This is a sidestory to my other story Speed Legend S at Initial D Merchandise. It holds battles back at Japan while Tomo (lead Character) and team Japan are on other countries participating in the world GT league and facing the toughest of racers around the world. Races held in Japan by previous characters, a couple of new ones, and a couple of borrowed ones (thus, making it a fanfic) are to be shown/said/typed here. For now, let the chapters do the talking. I got em made in advance to return that togue feeling again in my story.You can visit my other story Speed Legend S if you'd like.

Speed Legend Kyushi* (*Intermissions)

Chapter 1

The Return of the Novice Panther

Team Japan is having a break from their conquest in the International GT League. There was nothing much to do on one day so the team decided to go for a picnic at the outskirts of the British Columbian mountain region in Canada. It was a peaceful afternoon; not too many cars out there aside from the team’s carrier truck, support vans & personal cars. Among these personal cars include Tomo’s specially modified R34 GT-R Skyline Z-tune, Shinosuke’s RE Amemiya RX-7 FD, Sakura’s Nismo R34 R-Tune, Daiki’s Nismo Fairlady 350Z, and Tetsuya’s SUV – a Jeep Commander. Everybody was busy with something and seems as if they’re having fun. Tomo, along with Hiei & Ryusen, are busy playing what Hiei calls “Find the Ninja! Version 4.0”, where Hiei hides somewhere and the remaining two must find him before he goes even further. Kasumi is busy doing final arrangements for the outdoor lunch that she & Tomo had prepared; later on, she joined in with Tomo for the great Hiei search. The Kitamaru brothers, Shinosuke & Kitami, are busy playing a gold fish card game. Sakura is standing near her car, listening to her I-pod, and watching her friends act childish, laughing silently. Tetsuya & Hiroya are busy toying with the engines of some of their friends’ cars. Shimizu & Daiki, on the other hand, are on Daiki’s solar laptop, checking their e-mails on the Internet. Daiki stumbled on an e-mail from his teammate back at Japan, Kawasaki Abashi Kochiiro. His e-mail says:

Daiki,

How’s Team Japan? I don’t need to know if you guys are doing fine since with you around, there’s no way that you guys are going to lose. Are those kids still there? Noyzee Tribe I mean… Under you, I could say that they’ll improve further. The racing forums here are on fire! Everyone’s talking about you, Team Japan, and that kid you had a 3-round face off with, Gunma’s 34. If I remember clearly, around 168 forums are talking about it. Anyway, that’s not why I’m e-mailing you… Midnight Masters are recruiting other members as of today, administered by yours truly & Kazamo. There’s this one kid though that was one hell of a persistent cookie in the jar. His name is Kaede Shimuji; he says he is acquainted with Tomo…

Tomo overheard the name “Kaede” and went to Daiki’s table to see the e-mail for himself.

…Despite the fact that he was too persistent, he was recruited successfully; however, Kazamo was still unimpressed. He gave Kaede another test: a match with one of his co-drivers, whom we may call as Mr. Mitsu, in his FTO GP version R at Hakone pass. Miraculously, Kaede was able to beat him hands down by around a 0.5-mile gap from Mr. Mitsu and the finish line. Well, that shuts Kazamo up …

Daiki asked Tomo, “Is your friend that talented? You never told me about him.” “What? Are you kidding me? He’s a straightway freak! He completely sucks at corners. But, what surprises me about him is that… how did he improve this quick and got over his fear of going through low-speed and mid-speed corners?” Tomo said.

… I forgot to mention that his car is actually a NISSAN S15 SPEC R Silvia. He told me also that he once owned a hand-me-down Jaguar XKR. He didn’t tell me what he did with the Jag though…

Again, seeing that, Tomo talked to himself and said “so he traded his XKR with an S15, huh? The only problem with an S15 is that for an FR, it suffers understeer like that of an FF. if he was successful in beating one of the acquaintances of a high-level driver such as Kazamo, Midnight Masters’ 2.0 litre rally professional, then Kaede must’ve gotten that S15 from a very talented technician and practiced with it for nearly a hundred hours…”

… well, that’s much of what I could report as of now, Daiki. Give my greetings to Shimizu & Hiroya there for me. Ciao.Yours truly,Kawasaki KochiiroP.S. I’ve painted my Trueno AE111 black now.

Shimizu said, “Must we know about that? Man, is Kochiiro very conceited with his AE111.”

“You can say that again”, Hiroya said. The story shifts suddenly back at Japan; specifically, at the Hakone Nananamagari parking lot. What’s beautiful about Hakone is that, this season, cherry blossoms are blooming at every corner. Yes, it’s the season of spring. Surprisingly, Kaede is there with his S15. It was no ordinary S15. It had a GT Wing, the front was ventilated properly, it was fitted with 5Zigen star rims, and the underbody was well upgraded. Rumor has it, Kaede’s S15 gives off 354 hp; compared to the stock 254 hp power output, this S15 is more menacing than in it’s original spec. Unlike before, Kaede gave importance on the tire compound, the suspension, the brakes, and everything, which has to do with the Drivetrain of the car.

Kochiiro was there with his black AE111 Trueno BZ-R. It had wicked a flame vinyl design on the hood and a new aerodynamic body.

“I want to see for myself”, Kochiiro said, “if you are worthy of joining the Masters. Is it alright with you, Kaede, if I race you here and now?”

Kaede replies, “It’s okay. I did a setting, which I saw on the Internet with regards to my car’s cornering ability. I want to test it out as well. Let’s race!”

The course kind of reminds you of your small intestine. This is not a joke. I mean it. It consists of 7 to 10 consecutive hairpin turns in succession. Followed by 3 more after the underpass. It is 0.97 miles long. Rumors say, that in order to gain a fast time here, you need to use your emergency brake more often to clear a corner at lightning-fast speed. Surprisingly, no one has ever mastered it yet.

The race began, with Kochiiro in front. Kaede is easing up on the gas as his hands are prepared to turn the steering wheel and his legs ready to pounce on the brake & clutch pedals.

The first corner approaches. Kochiiro is taking it slowly, in order to avoid his tires from deteriorating quickly. Kaede too did the same thing and both cleared the 1st hairpin hands down. As the next corner approaches, Kaede used the pile of fallen blossoms on the road as a sliding aid and drove through it while braking. This allowed his car to drift.

“I want to see his skill from behind”, Kochiiro said, “but I’ll drive as if I’m just a 2nd tier member of the team.”

Kochiiro eased up on the gas and lets Kaede take the lead. By then, Kaede sets up for the next corner. Attacking hard, he used the e-brake and makes a perfect, close to a 40-degree drift. Kochiiro was astounded made by the novice and was in shock. As soon as he exited from the next corner, Kaede was already attacking the next corner until Kochiiro was left behind.

At the base, he asked Kaede: “what made you become that fast on the downhill? As far as I know, only Hiroya & Daiki could drive that menacing down a corkscrew like this…”

“It was because of two things; however they somewhat contradict each other when you listen to it literally…”, Kaede said. “It was my urge to improve on my cornering skills and my urge to get back at Tomo.”

“Get back at Tomo? What does he have against you?”

“Nothing serious. We’re friends. I just can’t accept the fact that I lost to him twice in a row, even if my car then was faster & better than his Skyline R34 GT-R.”

“Well, if you’re talking about a circuit race, then there’s no doubt that you’ll lose. Not only that, his car being a 4WD, he has better stability through the corners than that of FR’s. Let’s put it in math terms… Tomo + Skyline R34 GT-R = unbeatable combination of driver & car Besides, he’s the only guy I saw who kicked Daiki’s immortal ass on a highway race!”

Kochiiro could see in Kaede’s eyes that he has what it takes to improve. He therefore concluded:

“Tell ya what, since you’re under the Masters now, I’ll be your personal trainer. If you really want to brush up on your handling skills, I’ll help you. I lost because I held back a while ago. You’ll go through training first before you have a chance at beating the other Masters, ok?”

“I’m grateful.” Kaede said with a smile.

And at that, the 2 drivers shook hands, making a deal.As the agreement was set, Kaede heads back up to practice with his S15 down Nananamagari to familiarize himself with hairpin turns, which are very evident in any mountain pass around Japan...

Chapter 2

Battle Memoires

Ever since another set of great, young drivers left the country to pursue their destiny, the mountain passes are becoming deserted. No one races much anymore. If there were any, it would be a bunch of newbies trying to master the art of drifting.

Akagi was one of those mountain passes. The clouds were quite gloomy looking, as if rain is about to fall any moment by now. From there, a girl wearing an orange jacket was getting some drinks from a vending machine.

Her name was Haruka Umigara. She was a close friend of Tomo’s. She was fond of Tomo’s stories and of Tomo’s togue battles. She even got to see one of them – the battle between him and Kyo, of the Myogi Knights.

“Aw… I’ve been coming here for a week now and still no cars nor battles good enough to match Tomo’s… what’s the point of being here then…?”

As soon as she got onto a covered bench nearby, thunder started trembling. The rain started to fall. Slowly, the rain becomes harder and harder; as if like a storm.

“It’s raining.” She said. “And me without anyone to ride home with… I just use a cab to come here… I guess I will be stuck now, huh?”

Haruka just sulked while sitting in the bench. She felt a sudden chill down her spine, slowly overpowering her body.Later on a white FC came up Akagi, but it’s no ordinary FC. It has a Fujita Engineering body kit, with a single muffler replacing the standard twin exhaust. It also holds a set of RS Watanabe rims to give that non-stock look on its wheels. It stopped as it parks in front of the bench where Haruka was, we could say, suffering on because of the weather…

Somebody stepped out of the fascinating FC, in a hooded jacket. “Good thing my FC is still in top form despite the fact that I barely used it after I got my RE Amemiya FD3S.” He uttered to himself. He tilts his head to the side noticing a girl who is shivering and holding her arms, giving everyone the thought of her feeling as cold as ice.

He looks in his FC’s interior and nabs a thermos cup which has hot chocolate in it. He approaches the girl and hands it to her.

“You want some? It’ll make you feel warmer inside… go on, take it.” The guy said. “T….th…ank… you” Haruka replied. She sips bit by bit and comments: “It’s so warm… and delicious…”“Glad you like it.” The guy uttered. “Hey, aren’t you with Kitsumoro before?” As soon as Haruka heard that last name, she looked at the guy’s face. “How’d you know him?” she replied.

“Well, He’s my apprentice years back in my old team.” He removes his hood, thus revealing his identity.“Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Takeshi Musashiro – previous head of Reminiscent white and current head of team Scuderia D, the fastest street racing team up to date. And may I know your name?”

“I’m… Haruka Umigara… nice to meet you…”“Same here, Haruka… what are you doing here in this weather?”She explains to Takeshi all her intentions of coming day after day to the mountain passes. As Takeshi hears enough, he faces his car, telling her:“Get in. if you don’t want to catch a cold. Best you go home this instant. No one races in this hour. C’mon. I’ll drive you home, okay?”

The 2 stepped in the FC, Takeshi slowly drives it off the parking lot and into the starting line of Akagi’s downhill as if he’s about to race someone.

The weather is unforgiving and harsh, to a common driver, he wouldn’t plan to spar with his car in this kind of weather, but Takeshi seems not to care. He shifts it back to N and starts to rev the engine… a smooth sounding 7100 rpm limit. The sound was unorthodox as it was a 13B Rotary.

“If I were you Haruka, I’d buckle up now. You said you want a race as thrilling as that of my apprentice? Let me show you what it’s like driving against him…”“What did he mean by…what it’s like driving against him?”

As the needle hits 5000 rpm, he shifts to 1 and dashes off the starting line. Nailing the perfect shift points, he prepares his brakes for the incoming left hairpin. Haruka held tight to her seatbelt. Takeshi brakes long, he induces his car to an out-in-out attack at the same time doing what it looks as if a zero countersteer drift. Just inches away from the barricade, the FC cleared the first corner.

“He’s good… extremely good… what kind of person is he to drive this well in such a bad weather?” Haruka asked herself.

Approaching the first chicane, Haruka was ready for the worse – Takeshi brakes as he drifts and does a weight shift attack, sort of, to slide the car to the next hairpin. The G forces were suppressing Haruka in her seat but it didn’t bother Takeshi at all, he was as calm as the running waters of spring. What Takeshi actually sees is a ghost of Tomo’s GT-R driving infront of him, with Takeshi’s FC trying to cling on as hard as it possibly could.

Haruka looks at how Takeshi shifts from one gear to another and she couldn’t believe her eyes… “It’s like his left hand and his left foot are both moving in the speed of light…” Since Haruka was not that knowledgeable about driving techniques, that’s how she describes Takeshi’s lightning fast reflexes from gear to gear.

As she looks onto the road they were traveling on, they already passed the main bisection of Akagi and now on the speed section.

“This feeling… it’s new to me… it’s like this car is not driving on the road but… driving on the highway of the heavens… As if the feeling is like… flying… Nothing goes wrong… everything is smooth sailing…”She looks at Takeshi Musashiro’s face…“Takeshi Musashiro… what an absolutely talented driver… He must be as fast as Tomo… or even better… I want to see, where the sky takes me to…in this car…”

The FC’s rear is sliding relentlessly from left to right as it hits the last of the chicane’s high speed section. The weather is still as strong as Takeshi’s will to surpass that ghost car in front of him…

All that Haruka sees is a wet road, a thunderous sky, and hard raindrops pouncing on the pavement…All that Takeshi sees is a blue R34, desperately trying to pull away from his vision, whilst his FC is slowly decreasing the gap…

As they pass one corner to another in a sliding fashion, the FC backfires while shifting and begins to pick up the pace.

Haruka was never this thrilled about racing her entire life until this very run down Akagi’s… by the Black Meteor…

Reaching the 5 consecutive hairpins the FC gracefully drifts pass them at the top of its revs. The sound of the FC as if it’s about to break down, just sounds like it…

Haruka, as she looked at the trees simply pass through her, as the scenery becomes dull while passing them at high speed sheds a tear of happiness…

“I still don’t understand what it means for the likes of Tomo and Takeshi to race but through this pass, Someday… I might figure it out… it will take me long… but not too late for me to realize its true essence…”

The FC slowly fades onto the horizon as it finished Akagi’s downhill… the only thing left to see or listen there is the sound of lightning strikes, rolling thunder, and the loud revs of a Wankel Rotary…

Chapter 3

Encounter of the Oahu Guardian

A plane lands on the Tokyo Airport roadway. The plane from Honolulu has just arrived. The PA announced.A brother and sister exited the airport with a two door coupe waiting for themAn Audi TT 3.2 quattro… …Waiting for the two to get on board. They placed their luggage in the trunk of the car and boarded it. A young peachy teenage boy with short hair, seating at the passenger seat that is with his pretty older sister, driving the Audi heads for their new home near Hiroshima. The young boy’s name is Ryan Suzuki. The sister’s name is Minami Suzuki; they’re brother & sister.

Minami & Ryan were both born in Hawaii. However, their mother was Japanese while their father was Hawaiian. Their parents had met at Hiroshima one spring day, got married years after, and the rest is history. Ryan is more of the hyperactive loving-to-the-adults type while Minami is the quite silent type of girl. Both were acquainted with togue racing for some reason; possibly because they came from Hawaii, which is a mountainous island with many passes. Both are very talented, but they don’t take their practice as their serious career, it’s more of their past time. Both are still going to school. Minami is in her third year while Ryan is still a freshman. In the end, their skill is more or less, in between above & high average.

Back to the current story:“So, Minami-onesan, we’re going to Hiroshima?” Ryan asked her sister. “Yeah, we’ll be finishing our secular studies here like our mom wanted. We’ll be staying at our summer house.” Minami replied with her eyes fixed on the road. The Audi they’re on is driving through the freeway. As soon as they were on the Hiroshima the street racers in the Parking lot that they passed by noticed their car.

“An Audi TT quattro? Must be a newbie… or another driver for us to fish around.”“Or somebody who can pose a real challenge.”“Nah, can’t be. It’s probably just some old dude in his late 60’s.”

Only one person was quiet among the group.

“That BH type chassis is not the usual kind. The TT that passed us is much lighter. Keeping it steady in 4250 rpm, and no need to tap the gas; whoever was driving that thing sure knows her acceleration capabilities. The person must also have a vast knowledge on making the car from heavy to lightweight. This person is definitely a hashirya.” The woman iterated to herself. Yes, she’s one of the well known drivers in Hiroshima’s downhill; and to top it off, she’s the fastest. Everyone knows her by her internet nickname: Mt. Noro Express, but she prefers to be called by her real first name, Kaoru. She drives a mid-tuned Nissan S14 Silvia K’s aero. She’s not only known for her mad skills in the downhill; she’s also known for being followed by men most of the time. “I better see who the driver is, I’m not waiting for tonight.”

The same S14 back at the Hiroshima PA parked in front of their lawn. As Ryan was about to get the 3rd bag, he stopped and stared at the female driver, staring upright at their Audi Quattro.

“We didn’t hit the streets yet, and look here! I got myself a fan now!!” Ryan exclaimed to himself.“Hey you…” Kaoru called up to Ryan.“Me?”“Yeah, you the cute kid; do you know who in your family owns this TT?”“(She called me cute… at least it ain’t old people calling me that heh heh…) well actually, it’s just me and my sister here.”“Oh, is that so… tell me; is your sister in the racing business?”“No, she’s just in high school.”Hearing that, what Ryan just said, shocked Kaoru off her feet. “J…Just high school?! No way!!”“Ryan!! What’s taking you? I thought you were gonna fix our stuff upstairs and…” Minami’s call out to Ryan was cut short when she noticed the girl whom Ryan was talking to. Minami decided to approach the 2.“Yes, may I help you?”“A…are you the owner of this TT Quattro?”“My Audi? Yeah, I’m the owner. The person whom you’re talking to a while ago is my hyper little brother Ryan. He likes to make google eyes at somebody’s car if that somebody is looking at ours…”Kaoru notices Ryan and was disturbed by the way he stared at her White S14…“Ignore him… while we’re here, get use to it. Oh, my name is Minami. Minami Suzuki. And you are?”“Just… call me Kaoru…”“Kaoru eh?” Ryan popped out of nowhere… “Are you a street racer?”“Yes… is my car’s body layout that obvious?”“Well, Your spoiler IS a bit too high and it’ll drastically affect your aerodynamics, the camber angles are set too much on the inside, especially the rear tires. If you’re trying to find the perfect balance for your car, why don’t you lower it’s right height by a third of it’s current height?”

Kaoru was astounded by Minami’s observations and suggestions. “Tell me; who taught you all those terminologies about cars and car setups?”“Actually, some of the locals…”“…friends actually…” Ryan interrupted.“…from Hawaii…”“…Honolulu to be exact…” Ryan interrupted again.“…taught us those things.”“…terminologies…”“Ryan! Stop that…”“Sorry…”Kaoru realized now… so; you spent most of your life in Hawaii then?“As far as driving is concerned, yes.”“You know… it seems that we’re actually on common ground here, Minami.”“I’m starting to feel as if I’ve met a new friend here, Kaoru.”“Me too…” Ryan interrupted, again.“Since we’re both into togue racing…”“Togue racing? What’s that? Is it the southeast translation of the word beansprout?”“No, Ryan.” Minami corrected. “It’s the local term for street battle here in Japan.“Yeah.” Kaoru continued. “What I’m trying to say is… could I race you later, how’s say at 8 p.m.?”“Well,… I…” Minami was unsure, “since I need to prepare for school tomorrow and…”“She’ll be there.” Ryan answered.“WHAT!?” Minami reacted. “But…”“Don’t worry, sis. I know it won’t take long.”“Yeah. Your brother is right. You can still make it on time for your sleep by 9:30-ish. I just want to see your Hawaii-based driving technique.“Okay then.” Minami replied. I’ll see you at the Hiroshima PA.“…PA? Is that the short term for…” Ryan questioned.“PARKING LOT!!” The two girls answered for him.“Oh…”“Your brother is quite annoying…” Kaoru said to Minami.“But he’s sweet.” Minami commented. “You’ll see what I mean as soon as you get to know him.”

Kaoru turned on her car, shifted it to N, raised the revs all the way to 7900 rpm and quickly shifts to gear 1, and bursting through their front drive way. The silvia left and Minami stared at the S14 with a smile as it disappears into the misty landscape. That night…

The Hiroshima parking area is filled with different types of street racers from around the state…many different cars; many different drivers who’ve gathered around for a particular event. They’re all excited to see the top driver – A white S14 in action. It was none other than Kaoru herself. She’s in the hood of her car waiting for the Audi to make its appearance.

Did you hear? Kaoru is racing again!?Really? With who?Some… person in an Audi…What model?If I’m right, it’s a TT 3.2 quattro…That heap of junk? Although it’s small, it’s as heavy as a GTO twin turbo!!What’s up with Kaoru tonight…My Idol… is racing a heavy German sports car? Where did my Idol go??!

Some were excited about the battle; yet, some were disappointed because of the incoming car. Later, she (Kaoru) heard an unfamiliar engine accent coming close. No, it wasn’t a Lan Evo… nor was it a 13B Rotary coming… nor was it a B16 V-TEC engine… “She’s here” Kaoru said. As the car comes to a halt next to the Silvia; a girl and a boy stepped out of the yellow-orange colored Audi. Minami & Ryan have made their appearance.

Kids!? What are they doing here?Aren’t they a bit too young for this?Kaoru has lost it completely!!

Minami approached Kaoru; she approached her too.“Glad you could make it.”“It wasn’t hard to figure out.” Minami replied.“Hi Kaoru!!” Ryan greeted behind Minami…“So… are you ready? I’ll tell you all about this race. It’s not too long.”As the two girls talk about the course details, Ryan intimately stared at the two with a smile. Later on, some local guys came up to him and asked:“Hey Kid, is that your sister talking to THE Kaoru of Hiroshima?”“Yep, that’s my sis!”“Is she good behind the wheel?”“Wait ‘til they start racing; then you’ll know.”“Your sister’s kinda cute. I was wondering if…”“Sorry… my sister is not for sale…”After Ryan said that last comment, the rest of the boys had their jaws hanging down thinking “What the heck is he talking about!? I/He wasn’t planning to buy her or anything like that…”

“Okay then… let’s start?” Minami requested.“Hold on…” Kaoru said as she faced the crowd… “WADDYA SAY, FELLAS? WANT ME TO RACE THIS GIRL DOWN HIROSHIMA!?” She shouted out.“YYYYEEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!” everyone else exclaimed.She faced Minami again with a big smile. “Now we can start.”

The S14 and TT positioned themselves somewhere near the mid-section of Hiroshima. With the petals falling, they both need to take extra caution as their cars can easily slide.The S14 is in front with the TT behind her in the other side – her left side.

One of the locals volunteered to give the starting countdown. “Get Ready!! Countdown starts in FIVE…”Both girls had their hands on their shift boxes. “FOUR!!”They set it both in Neutral.“THREE!!”The muffler backfires as it reached the red zone in neutral.“TWO!!”Kaoru & Minami’s hands & legs are shaking; can’t wait to shift to 1.“ONE!!”Their feet are anxious to hit the clutch and gas pedals. “GOOOOO!!”The S14 and Audi took off! However, there was something up with the S14… It accelerated as quickly as the Audi, which is 4WD.

“My S14 is known for its quick acceleration; decent enough to match a 4WD’s… I can hold on to this lead. Show me what you’re made of Minami!!” Kaoru shouted as she shifted to gear 2. The S14 was positioning itself in the center; the Audi was a third of the S14’s length from the rear… “I’m too close!!” Before Minami could shift to gear 3, she decelerates to give way for the S14. “The lead is assured…” Kaoru said. “It’s too early for me to make a move. Let me first observe the capabilities of her Silvia, and then I’ll attack on her vital weak points!!” Minami planned.Back in the Parking area; Ryan is listening to the battle via radio transmission Este, walkie talkie. The S14 took the lead! Kaoru could possibly win this hands down…“I don’t think my sister is purposely gonna lost this race. She has a plan in mind… I know she does!!” Ryan thought to himself. “As I can imagine now, she’s planning some kind of killer plan to take the lead off that other girl.”Kaoru increases the gap on the straights but slows down as soon as a turn comes up 100 meters away. Minami brakes as soon as she’s about to hit Kaoru’s behind, 20 meters away. The incoming hairpin is up and the 2 female drivers were able to clear the first hairpin with ease. Then comes another turn where Kaoru slowed down a bit…“Agh! Her entry is too slow!!” Minami panicked as she pounces on the brakes. “She’s sticking really close… what’s up with her? Is she really this good for a newbie of Hiroshima?” Kaoru thought to herself. Minami had no choice but to slow down unless Kaoru leaves an opening.

After a few hairpins, Kaoru & Minami are close to the last one. “The last hairpin… I can do this!!” Kaoru shouted out in excitement. She braked – but it was too long. She stuck to the inside at a low speed…Minami on the other hand thought to herself… “Since her entry up to the apex is slow, I think it’s possible for me to overtake her at the corner’s exit… I need to hold the accelerator AS SOON as I pass the apex. That way, as my Audi understeers, it may be enough to cleanly overtake the S14 and the corner without hitting the wall…As the S14 and Audi pass the apex; the TT understeers as what Minami predicted – since it’s a 4 WD where under –steering is inevitable. Kaoru is busy concentrating on the car’s cornering and was interrupted when a pair of blue headlights was flashing her eyes. It was Minami’s Audi Quattro… “No… not yet… I can still block her as I clear the exit…”However, Kaoru was wrong. The Audi starts to pick up even more speed as it exited the corner; side by side with the S14… “How can it be…!? Her Audi’s a non-turbo… how could it have a better exit speed than my S14 which is turbocharged!?” Minami slowly overtook the Silvia. Th…th…THE SILVIA WAS PASSED!! KAORU WAS PASSED!!” the guy said through the walkie talkie. Everyone was in shock; while Ryan was dancing his butt off out of excitement. “Woo-hoo!! Go Minami! Go Minami! It’s your B-day…” Ryan sang. The Audi kept increasing the gap… too big for Kaoru to decrease… “Her settings were wrong in the first place compared to mine” Minami said. “If we have the time, I can show her better settings…” “She’s good… she beat me… on my home turf… I could learn a thing or two from this…” Kaoru chattered with a smile on her face.

Minami & Ryan were born both in Hawaii, although their birth origin is actually in the East Asian part of the world. Their mother is Japanese while their father was Hawaiian who met at Hiroshima, one day in spring; got married years after and bore two children, who actually were them.

You could've written it simpler. Like this:

QUOTE

Minami & Ryan were both born in Hawaii. However, their mother was Japanese while their father was Hawaiian. Their parents had met at Hiroshima one spring day, got married years after, and the rest is history.

There, the text flows better now. Also, you can't have someone born outside of East Asia and at the same time place their origin of birth in East Asia.

And another example:

QUOTE

“An Audi TT quattro? Must be a newbie… or another driver for us to fish around.”“Or somebody who can pose a real challenge.”“Nah, can’t be. It’s probably just some old dude in his late 60’s.”-other stuff-“That BH type chassis is not the usual kind. The TT that passed us is much lighter. Keeping it steady in 4250 rpm, and no need to tap the gas; whoever was driving that thing sure knows her acceleration capabilities.

What, does Kaoru possess X-ray vision or something?

Also, you'll notice in Inital D that the drivers shift to 1st before the race starts. Simply disengaging the E-brake and clutch takes far less time than stepping on the clutch, gently shifting into 1st, then putting the E-brake down.

I'll wait for updates though. Keep writing

(And personally, I don't think there's any need for "Kyushi" when "Intermission" already exists in the English language. But that's just my opinion.)

Edit is done. Thanks for pointing 'em out, Meteor. Updates for both SLS and SLK (Speed Legend S & Kyushi) will be either here or on the other thread.

About Kaoru knowing what's Minami doing with the TT when she arrived...

her special (car-related) ability is to know from a distance the current rpm the car is driving currently on, by just listening to the engine hum right infront of her. Weight? how did she know that? a mystery... don't plan on spoiling that part...

About Kaoru knowing what's Minami doing with the TT when she arrived...

her special (car-related) ability is to know from a distance the current rpm the car is driving currently on, by just listening to the engine hum right infront of her. Weight? how did she know that? a mystery... don't plan on spoiling that part...

You misunderstand.

I was referring to how Kaoru was the only one who could tell the gender of the driver out of everyone else who was looking at the TT. That's why I bolded out "her" in particular.

Ah, that.Then... um... driving style? I never thought about that specifically.But if there is some sort of reasoning behind that could be... this (hypothetically speaking)

SOME Female drivers drive very smooth when just cruising. She did notice that Minami never went pass 4000+ rpm on her way pass Hiroshima parking lot.

like comparing Mako to Kyoko or something like that.

EDIT: Here's the next chapter!

Speed Legend Kyushi Chapter 4 - A Peaceful Interlude... disrupted

Minami is at school. It is 11 a.m.; they were having their Mathematics class then. She was sitting at the edge of the class, next to the window. Her classroom is on the third floor. "Is class over already?" she whispered to her seatmate - a young boy wearing glasses who's as old as Minami.

"Getting bored huh? We still got an hour before today's school ends. So live with it." The boy said to Minami who was listening very attentively to the teacher's lecture.Parabolas & Hyperbola's were the main topics of today's Mathematics class and it was hard to grasp at first. Minami can't help but look at the sky and stare at its beautiful blue shades. "I can't believe my lil' brother has no class today. Lucky for him" she said with a frown on her face. As she looked down, she saw a silver S14 Silvia - much like the same S14 she raced with the night she arrived at Hiroshima's parking lot. It was Moriyama. Kaoru Moriyama. She stepped out of her S14 and gave Minami a few hand signals saying: YOU-AND-ME-LUNCH-MY-TREAT-AFTER-YOUR-CLASS-WHEN-DO YOU FINISH?Minami took out a scratch paper and a pen and wrote there '12 noon'.Kaoru went back in her Silvia and just waited for 12 noon to come by."Ms. Suzuki!!" The teacher called out to Minami."Y...Yes?" Minami quickly stood up."Since you're not paying attention, I might as well ask you something you could answer to get your head back in the topic. Now, here's the question..." the stingy teacher paused for a moment to think what to ask Minami to embarass her infront of class."Here! In a parabola and hyperbola, what do you call the center or dividing point of the hyperbola or parabola that splits them into 2 equal parts.""The vertex sir...""WRONG! I Mea-..." He takes out his textbook to verify the term. "wait a minute... you're right. Sorry to have doubted you, Ms. Suzuki.""No need to be, sir. It's my fault for staring at the sky and not pay attention.""I'll forget this incident ever happened. Good for you to do your advance reading."Everybody applauded that comment of Minami. She smiled and sat down.An hour flew by quickly and the bell already rang.

class was dismissed.

It was the last day of the week - Friday. So obviously, a lot are planning their gimmicks already. Minami took out her personal shoes from her locker and puts the school shoes in. She wears her shoes and heads straight for the school gate. The S14 was still there. She got in the silver car and closed the door. "So, Kaoru... where are you planning to treat me?" Minami asked "and why?""Well... you did beat me hands down, on a course you barely get to know. I was impressed. And to show you that I'm grateful to have raced you, I'm treating you out to lunch. I know this great restaurant a few blocks from here. I hope you like soba noodles. Theirs is the greatest I can guarantee you that.""Well, what are we waiting for?""Soba...soba...oh, so yummy!!" Minami and Kaoru sang as they went to that fancy Soba restaurant that Moryiama was talking about.

[Suzuki residence - 8:00 p.m. Garage]

A young peachey boy sneaks around the garage, looking for the keys to the Papaya Orange Audi TT 3.2 Quattro. It was Ryan. "Well, sis did say that she'll be coming home late with Kaoru so for the meantime... I want to take our car out for a spin." He looks at the garage cabinet and sees the car keys. "Aha! There you are you little troublemaker!!" Ryan said to himself with a huge grin on his face.He opens the garage door, turns the car on and heads for Hiroshima's peak, which is located 3/4 of a kilometer away from their house. A smooth running V-type engine cruises down Hiroshima. As soon as Ryan was able to get a good glimpse of the first corner, he presses the accelerator down even further. The 4WD is kicking in at its acceleration boost.

Since he has been doing this for almost a week now, due to the fact that Minami always comes home at around going 10 p.m. already, he had his moments of practicing at Hiroshima's uphill and downhill. The feeling was great. Ryan grips through the first hairpin gracefully and tends to slide the rear as soon as he faces the exit. His driving skill is close to that of her sister's when she fought Kaoru for the very first time.

All was going fine until he sees a car parked perpendicular to the road that he's driving on. An army green Nissan Sileighty - modified aerodynamics, chassis, body, a new GT wing at the back and ramped with stickers around the whole body, customs and manufacturer stickers alike. A hooded driver, wearing round glasses, short, brown hair, of decent height; steps out of the Sileighty and approaches the Audi, which parked on the side of the road with it's hazard lights on. "Did he have a breakdown or something?" Ryan uttered to himself. "Why doesn't he pull to the side then? He's obsstructing traffic... AND MY PRACTICE. At this rate, sis will find out about this and'll kill me for sure! I need to see what this guy is cooking up." Ryan steps out of the Audi and gets ready to answer whatever question this guy ought to throw at him. Tension is slowly wrapping Ryan as he slowly comes in contact with the hooded driver.

"This kid, is the one who defeated Kaoru Moriyama's S14 on the downhill?" The hooded man chucked as he said that. "What was that?", Ryan reacted while his right hand is pointing at him, showing off a karate chop, and his other hand behind his back. "Okay, what is this? This ain't fight night nor some kid's ninja anime..." The hooded man concluded."You wanna see what my taijutsu driving techniques could do? Wanna be the first one to lose with my taijutsu technique?" Ryan said. "THIS KID IS NUTS!? WHY WOULD KAORU LOSE TO THE LIKES OF THIS MIDGET?" The hooded man disturbingly reacted. A strong, windy breeze blew past the 2 adversaries. A second later, the hooded man spoke. "Must be coz she lacks experience... that's why she lost to this kid and his TT..." He murmured with a grin. "I want to see what this guy could do, weird or not; besides, he won't beat me anyway... heh heh..." he laughed."What's so funny?" Ryan asked."Nothing kid. Since we're both here, how's say we race?" the hooded guy offered."Sounds interesting, I could use this opportunity for practice." Ryan commented. "Alright. I accept." he answered with a confident tone."Good. For starters, let us introduce ourselves. I'm Yuuya Takuma. I'm known as the Dominator!!" Yuuya said as he removed his hood."Well, I'm Ryan Suzuki! I'm known as... uh... (I can't use Minami's Nickname, she'll kill me! Oh, well. I can't make up something right now. So...)... um... Ryan!""The race will be downhill. Runner-chaser style. I'll be the runner. Rules are simple. Here's how one or the other person wins:

1. If the runner makes a 200 meter gap, I win. 2. If we maintain our positions 'til the end, I still win. 3. If the chaser overtakes until the finish, you win. 4. If the chaser overtakes and makes a 100 meter gap, you win...

... (Which will most unlikely happen) Satisfied with terms?" Yuuya asked."Fine. Let's get it on!!! Huuuuuuuuuuuu-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa-yayayayayayayayayaya... YA!!" Ryan said mimicking a couple of *Literal* taijutsu kicks and punches, as if he's ready to fight someone."Tseh, weirdo." Yuuya said getting on his car.

Not much are in Hiroshima at this hour. Main events don't start until 10. It's just 9:45 p.m. The Sileighty and the TT get ready to do battle. Ryan and Yuuya slowly rev up their engines. As soon as Yuuya accelerates, the race will start.Yuuya places his sileighty on gear 1 and raises the e-brake. Ryan does the same with the Audi. The TT is still using the same worn-out tires that were used in the last battle.Later on, the sileighty rockets out of the starting line, signaling the start. Ryan immediately followed. The Sileighty is carrying a lot of power under its bonnet. An estimate of 345 bhp flows down to the rear tires. Yuuya plans to end the race at the very start. But it wasn't a problem for Ryan - his Audi is 4WD and pumps out 290 bhp, 40 higher than the stock engine. With a high-rev muffler. He knows he can still make up for the straights via the corners.

The first hairpin is up, and Yuuya is holding a steady 50 meter lead. He brakes hard and grips through the first hairpin, sticking on the inside from the moment he entered the corner until he exited it. Ryan's Audi is next. He decelerates 20 meters ahead, presses the brakes with not much effort compared to the earlier and gracefully clears it in a classical out-in-out fashion. The gap slowly decreased to 35 meters. As every hairpin is up, Ryan is able to narrow the gap down to 25 meters after 4 hairpin turns, even if the car, for a 4WD, doesn't carry a turbo. Yuuya is concentrating on the road, not bothering the incoming TT close by.

"Now I see why Kaoru Moriyama lost. For a young, little kid, he knows his stuff. He easily narrowed down the 50 meter gap I made from the start. It's amazing. But I think, he didn't show me much of his skill yet." Yuuya pondered at that moment. Hiroshima isn't itself unlike when Minami and Kaoru battled. At the third section, with all those low speed corners, the asphalt is under construction, thus rendering the course half on-road, and half off-road. This favored both parties for Yuuya's Sileighty, it's modified for balance - an FR good enough to handle asphalt AND dirt at the same time. Ryan's Audi is 4WD so there's no problem at all. They're on the end of the second section and the distance is not changing at a steady 10 meters from bumper to bumper. Yuuya is a grip driver - that's why there's not much screeching sounds that night. Ryan, on the other hand is pushing the TT hard. As soon as they reach the third section/ the off road section, Ryan suddenly picked up more speed. The reason was unknown. "Let's see how sis' I mean... our Audi deal with off road conditions... Time to unleash the Hidden Lotus of this 4wd!" Ryan accelerated hard as he exited the first of the bisection. He found a loose-thread in Yuuya's driving pace and took advantage of it. He cuts through the outside and smoothly overtakes the sileighty."Argh! I won't lose to the likes of you." yuuya ssaid grining his teeth. On the next hairpin, Ryan attempts to drift his Audi through the dirt. However, the heavy body of the TT is hindering the drift movement and stabilizes the TT's position. "I guess that's something me and sis could work on." All 290 Horses of the Vertical type engine slowly get louder and louder as Ryan exits the hairpin. With the Sileighty right behind him, Ryan can't concentrate too much on keeping his lead. At one entry, Yuuya enters the apex without accelerating. The problem? Ryan is on the inside.

"Hey! Get off! You're going to hit me!!" Ryan said."Who cares if my car gets a scratch! I'm gonna win for sure!"Yuuya said, adjusting his glasses as he exits the corner. Ryan had no choice but to lose precious momentum and decelerate. Yuuya regained the lead. Ryan though wasn't happy about it.As they reach the short and final section of Hiroshima, which is asphalted by the way, Yuuya slowly cleares the low-speed bisection. Ryan on the other hand, is driving like a mad man, clearing every corner with an inch away from the outside's guardrail.Before reaching the final hairpin, Ryan regained his momentum - high enough to overtake Yuuya one more time.The last right hairpin is up. Yuuya positions his sileighty on the inside and grips through the corner. Ryan approaches the corner, downshifts a gear and intentionally lets the rear veer outward. As soon as he exits the last hairpin the TT is side by side with the sileighty."See that? That's what you get for messing with the Dominator..." Yuuya uttered to himself until a couple of headlights blinded his left eye. He slowly sees an Audi pass him. He looks at the mirror to check. "No way! How did he... this is supreme bull-!"The Audi just keeps picking up speed despite the Sileighty being lighter on the straightway. "Now that's a sure victory with my Hidden Lotus no... Hidden Audi!!" Ryan said with a smile as he crosses the finish line and keeps on going.The Sileighty pulls over and is frustrated over his defeat. In rage, he kicks the front tire of his car.The Dominator was Dominated.

[11:30 p.m. - Suzuki Residence]

Minami is completely tired. Kaoru dropped her off at her place. "I'll call you soon, okay best friend?" Kaoru said.Minami just gave a lazy wave. She didn't even bother to notice that the garage door is open and the TT isn't inside. She went straight to her room, removed her clothes, took a bath, wore her PJ's and went to sleep. She was so tired that as soon as she got on the bed, her eyes went shut.What Happened to Ryan and their Audi?

[11:35 p.m. - Somewhere at the base of the Hiroshima pass]A papaya orange Audi TT sits there at one side next to a noodle house. Ryan was there eating ramen. "Thanks mister! Pay is on the counter" Ryan said as soon as he left the place.Something weird happened as soon as he got on his car.As soon as he stepped in, he passed out. His young boy metabolism got the best of him at that moment. He fell asleep in his car.From a distance, a White Lancer Evolution 4 with sponsor stickers mostly on it's side and rear just stands there."That Audi... he's mine." the Evo's driver said with a grin."Beating Yuuya? Let me show you what it's like losing more than just a race." He locked on Ryan's Audi in his Laptop via satellite and drives off. As soon as my Laptop gives a signal that he's on the move, I'll kick his German ass off Hiroshima! A loud, evil laugh echoes around Hiroshima's foggy pass.

The next day arrived. Minami just woke up. She got out of bed, went to the bathroom to freshen up and got changed. As she looked into her bed-side clock she sees that it’s Saturday; 6:50 a.m. “Guess I woke up too early today…” she said to herself while pinching her cheek a bit. “I wonder if Ryan is awake… I was too gloomy last night to check up on him.” She wondered as she went down the stairs.“Ryan? Hellooo? Where are you?”Minami went to the kitchen, the living room, even the bathroom.“I know its Saturday but you don’t need to play hide and seek at a time like this. Grow up, would ya? Just come out…”She went back up to check on Ryan’s room then the veranda of their house. Minami looks down on the driveway and notices that their Audi TT wasn’t there.Minami is in a state of shock and hurriedly proceeded to the garage. Stomping down the stairs in angst to get to the garage door, she ran to see if she didn’t see what she just saw.“No… the Audi isn’t here? How come…? Who could’ve…”Before she could say another word, she went to the table top where the keys of the house are, near the kitchen. The Audi’s car keys are not there. She checks one more time to correct herself. But she was right from the beginning.“RYAN!!! COME BACK HERE WITH OUR AUDI!!!” She shouted out to the sky.“Honestly, that little brother of mine. He really got me on a bad time…” She said while stomping out of anger to the Kitchen to prepare breakfast.

[Mt. Hiroshima base – near Curio shop 7:00 a.m.]

The mountain is foggy that day. It could be because the sun ain’t out yet or something other unknown phenomena. At the base of the mountain pass is Ryan in his Audi TT, next to a curio shop. He’s still sound asleep. His phone rings suddenly. Ryan jumped out of his reclining position and accidentally hit his head on the rear view mirror. “Ouch… who is it now?”He gets out his cell phone and sees Minami’s name on it.“Oh, butter nuts…” he said in a scared, gloomy tone.He pressed the call button and answers the phone.“He…..h….e…ll…o?”“YOU LITTLE ONE OF A KIND TWO TIMING…”“Easy, sis! I get your drift. I’m coming home this instant.”“Well, it’s good that you understand. If you don’t come back here in ten minutes, I’ll, I’ll… throw your Ninja toys away or sell it to the little kids at school!”“No! Not my ninja collection! I haven’t collected the missing 3 figurines yet! But isn’t it too short? Ten minutes I mean…”“Nine minutes and 54 seconds, Ryan…”“I’m coming! I’m coming don’t do it!!” Ryan said with his hands shivering around his cell phone and can’t press the hold button. He puts his phone down on the passenger seat and starts the car. Meanwhile, a few blocks away, the White Lancer Evolution 4 is still there, waiting for the Audi to make its move. Its driver looks as if he didn’t sleep at all. Eye bags around his eyes, has a thermos on his left hand, and a cup of coffee on his right. As soon as he sees the lights of the Audi flash, he became quite jumpy and sips one last time.“Finally! Took ya long enough, you little runt.”He starts the car and stares at the Audi that made a 180 spin back up the hill. The driver throws out his thermos and his cup out the window and slowly chases the Audi TT.“As soon as he hits the first corner, I’ll push it!”A voice came out of his radio transceiver: “Akio, you’re after the Audi that I lost to?”He picks up the microphone and replies. “Of course, Yuuya. Before he could even do anything else, I’ll make sure of it that you get the revenge you wanted.”“Thanks man! I owe you one once I see you soon.”“No prob, dude. Now shut up and let me do my thing.”He places the microphone back in the holder and turns on his high beam headlights.“Let’s Dance!!”Ryan hurriedly reaches for Hiroshima’s peak to beat her Sister’s 10 minute requirement. The TT understeered at the first hairpin, yet Ryan didn’t mind that. He didn’t care if there are a few scratches on the Audi. He just wants to get home. Suddenly… BANG!!The White Evo 4 hits the Audi’s rear real hard.“What’s the problem of this Lan Evo 4? Why did he hit me?”Ryan quickly shifts to the next gear in order to escape also from the rampaging Lan Evo behind him.Akio, who’s in the Lan Evo gave a slight grin as he hits the Audi one more time.“Is this the best you can do?” he asked while shifting from 3 to 4 with a little backfire sound.Entering the next hairpin, Ryan slows down and brakes hard; he shifted to gear 2 to attack the inside. At the same time, the Lan Evo hits the Audi once more while braking.“What in the world!? Doesn’t he know how to drive? I’m about to lose control here from what he’s doing to my Audi…”The rear hits the outside barricade slightly but it didn’t hinder the speed of the Audi that much. Alls that Ryan could do is escape from the Lan Evo.Halfway through the pass, the Audi could barely hold on to its lead. The Evo behind him does a perfect 4WD Drift and plans to ram the bumper area next to the rear right tire.Skidding tires and ramming body parts are the only sounds, aside from roaring engines, that can be heard down Hiroshima that faithful morning.“Is it because I beat that green Nissan last night? Is he that guy’s accomplice or something?” Ryan wondered.Another series of low speed corners approaches.Ryan decelerates slowly while the more powerful Evo had to brake upon entry. Ryan was able to increase the gap for that moment and can ease up. “My Audi can’t take much more of this…” Before he could even shift to gear 4, another BANG sound came up behind him – the same Lan Evo 4 that he got away from, suddenly reappeared from behind.“How could this be!?” Ryan asked in fear.Looking at the rear of the Audi, it was significantly damaged, the rear lights have a few shatters and cracks, the plate number is about to fall off, the mufflers got a bit of damaged and the tips were altered from impact. The Audi can clear one last hairpin with an impact; it may last longer if he avoided the next incoming attack.

The final hairpin before the medium speed bends from the peak is up. Ryan braked but the Evo is still closing in.“Too early, too slow!” Akio said as he brakes and rams the Audi. Something from the back of the TT got severly damaged…“Is it the crankshaft?” ryan wondered.As they exit the hairpin, the acceleration of the TT was 100% sluggish. Akio plans for one last hit as they approach the first hairpin. Ryan brakes but comes in wide, The Evo gains that chance that he was waiting for. Akio rams the Audi’s side – the side where Ryan is on.BANG!The glass of the TT’s driver’s side shattered to bits. Ryan received a few glass cuts and his side is badly injured from the impact. It doesn’t stop there. The TT too received critical damage such as the front right suspension that hits the outside wall really hard and got bent and twisted making the front right tire go in a zig-zag motion, from a vertical point.“His last impact did something to my car’s front suspension. I have no choice but to stop.”The Lan Evo didn’t stop – it just kept on going up the hill. The front fog lights were completely shattered. The front bumper had some heavy damage although not much performance damages were inflicted on the Evo from impact.“Well, that’s done. It feels good, I have to tell you that.” Akio said with an evil grin on his face.

Back at Minami’s place, she stood on her veranda, waiting for Ryan to come home. She hears an oncoming car passing through their drive way – A white Lancer Evolution 4; it was Akio’s. The shattered front bumper says it all.“That car came from Hiroshima…” Minami wondered. “Those damage scars on the front area… I have a bad feeling that Ryan is involved.” She said as she calls Kaoru on her cell phone.

Back at the pass, a couple of street racers drive down Hiroshima for their trial runs – an AE111 Trueno Turbo and a CR-X EF8. They stopped to see the damaged Audi TT on the side.“What’s the matter bro?” The EF8 driver asked.The Trueno driver got out of his car to see if anyone is in the car. He stood in fear as he saw a partly bloody, quarter conscious Ryan Suzuki in the driver’s seat of the carnaged Audi TT. He looks at his friend who is also in a state of shock…“Well, don’t just stand there, man! Call an ambulance!!” The Trueno driver shouted out to his colleague. The EF8 driver called an ambulance, ASAP.“Hello? Yes, we need an ambulance and hurry! We got a critically injured driver here in Hiroshima and…”What fate does Ryan have right now?Will this be his last drive at this young age?Will he make it to the Hospital on time?What about their Audi TT?Are their racing days over?

Sorry for the long wait. I had some trouble thinking of what would happen now it all came to me... anyway, for those in wait... HERE IT IS!!

The next chapter!!

Speed Legend Kyushi Chapter 6 - Inevitable Revenge

Minami and Kaoru immediately went to Hiroshima to check things out.As soon as they got to the first hairpin area, they saw fragments of broken glass on the road. The S14 came to a halt and both girls got out of the car."What happened here?" Kaoru wondered."Whatever it is, it's not good." Minami answered. "Hold on..." she followed.She saw a couple of strips of a car's body work. She looked at it closely..."T...TH...IS... THIS IS FROM MY AUDI!!""You sure, Minami-kun?" Kaoru asked as she got close to Minami."I'm sure of it. Only my car is colored PAPAYA ORANGE in this prefecture.""You could be right there.""Somebody must've done something to my brother. DO you have any idea who could have done this, Kaoru-san?""To tell you the truth, I know everyone here in Hiroshima who comes here. Almost everyone is a good driver.""Almost?" Minami starts to wonder what Kaoru ment."There's this guy... Yuuya Takuma. He's called as Hiroshima's dominator. He's as equally fast as my S14.""Could it be him?""His skill is something that contradicts that. When he drives he's a good driver. I'm not so sure about him today, though...""Most probably because you're a girl. That's how men are, they try to impress a woman...""Such as myself?" Kaoru starts to act conceitedly about her figure and beauty... "You could be right there..." she followed, blushing a bit."Don't get so hyper about yourself, girl." Minami answered.While they were conversing, the Honda Civic EF8 from a while ago reappeared again."Kaoru... you're here." the EF8 driver said."Oh... it's you..." Kaoru said. "You're a regular here right?""actually, I'm sort of a newbie. My friend in the AE101 Trueno is.""Ah... that guy... so could you tell me what exactly happened here?""well... We exactly don't know what specifically happened but, we just found a totalled orange Audi TT in this part of Hiroshima on our way down. There was a young kid in the driver's seat...""It's RYAN!!" Minami broke into a scream."You sure?" Kaoru asked Minami. Later on, he faced the EF8 driver. "Where did you take him?" "At a Hospital near Haruna. It's a couple of kilometers away. It's the best that we could find.""C'mon, Kaoru! Let's go!" Minami hurriedly told Kaoru as she boards the S14.

[Local Hospital; Gunma prefecturel; 10:00 a.m.]

Kaoru and Minami ran towards the Nursing Station. "Is Ryan Suzuki in?" Minami asked in concern. "You made it just in time. He just came out of the operation Room. May I ask who may you be and how you're related to Sir Ryan Suzuki?" the head nurse asked."I'm Minami, his sister.""So you're his sister. He's at room 276, turn left as soon as you get to the floor. Just at the end of the hall." the Nurse informed."Thanks for the information ma'am." Minami courteously replied.The 2 board the elevator and went to the second floor.As soon as they saw room 276, the doctor just stepped out of the room. His face seemed familiar. A blue haired, handsome doctor saw the 2 girls who're about to enter the room."Excuse me. Pardon me for asking but, are you 2 in a way related to this patient, Mr. Ryan Suzuki?" the doctor asked."Yes. I'm her sister." Minami answered.Kaoru, on the other hand took a closer look at the doctor..."Hmm... aren't you Ryosuke Takahashi?""That's right, miss. Afterall, this Hospital IS owned by my parents. I'm the recent heir to this hospital..."Ryosuke answered."But what about the battles with your street raci-" Kaoru's words were cut short when Ryosuke immediately covered her mouth."Don't mention about me being involved in street racing." Ryosuke whispered to Kaoru. "Most of our clients here are a couple of street racers; mostly rookies who had their first accidents. If the staff knows, they might get curious. Even my parents would be...""I understand" Kaoru answered while his mouth is covered."Umm... about my brother?" Minami quietly interrupted."Ah, yes. Let me see if he's conscious." Ryosuke went inside to check. After a minute, he came out and told Minami "He's alright. You can come in if you wish.""Thank you." With that Minami and Kaoru entered. Ryosuke followed after them.Ryan has his left arm and leg casted. Minami slowly approached his brother."He lost a large amount of blood from that accident. We insisted on a transfusion but he resisted. We just gave him a Ringer's Solution to recover a couple of his lost RBCs.""Ringer's Solution?" Minami asked."A blood substitute" Ryosuke answered. "It's nothing harmful."Later on, Ryan opened his eyes."S...sis? Am I in heaven? Where's Jesus?" Ryan said in a pale tone."Quit joking around brother." Minami answered. "What happened to you?""It went like this... You told me to come home right? On my way up, there's this Lancer that kept hitting me until I ended up like this. Who brought me here? Is it Kaoru-chan?" Ryan said."Don't keep your hopes up. You're too young for me. A couple of locals who were passing by brought you here.""I see..." Ryan said in a disappointed tone."Tell me, what kind of Lancer was it?" Minami asked."It was white; looked like an Evolution if I'm not mistaken. It's a bit old..."With those descriptions, Kaoru took out his PDA and went wi-fi to find out what car Ryan is talking about."There's a password to access the internet. Is it alright, Dr. Ryosuke?""Sure. The password is PROJECT*D"She typed the descriptions and the search engine showed the results - top 1 being a picture of a Lancer Evolution 4."Is this it?" Kaoru asked."Yeah. That one." Ryan answered."That Evolution... I saw that pass by our house this morning." Minami said."It also had a lot of stickers on it." Ryan followed."I think I know who you encountered, Ryan. He's one of the most dirtiest drivers I've ever known. Looking at him, you know in a way, he's trouble. He's Akio Asakura. He's far the best local in Haruna.""You sure, Kaoru?" Minami asked."I know so. A local group at Haruna called the SpeedStars know that guy." she answered."In fact, I know some of them. They were involved with my group before I came here." Ryosuke said."See that, Minami? We're all willing to help out. Why don't you go to Haruna tonight and show that lowlife that you're better than him?""Are you talking about revenge, Kaoru?""Minami! Revenge meeeeehhh..." Ryan pleaded."You know I don't like this sort of solution, lil' bro." Minami commented."Like you got a choice. He ripped your brother and your car apart! Isn't that enough evidence for you to take revenge on him?" Kaoru insisted."Even if I do take revenge, I wouldn't feel good about it.""Minami! I don't care how you think of this. Avenge me, why don't ya? Do you want me to end up like this again?""well, I..." Minami was unsure; this conflicted with her personal code of conduct."Sometimes, Ms. Suzuki," Ryosuke commented "You don't even have a choice. If he knew that you're actually the one, and you got your car repaired, he'll come running after you. I know you don't want that either. The best way is to attack before he could even have the chance to attack you first.""you've got to do this, Minami.""C'mon, sis!""Alright! Alright. I'll do it. But just to assure you, I'm not doing this for any other valid reason. I know it's bad to fight fire with fire but I don't want Ryan to worry about me in the future. I know we don't want me to end up like him soon.""At least you've made a resolution on it." Ryosuke said. "I asked Iketani to repair your car. He's one of the employees in the GS Gas station close by. Fumihiro and Matsumoto, my previous colleagues are there too. I ask them to help out. Your car might be ready before tonight.""Thank you, Mr. Ryosuke. I want to see how my car looks like right now. I'll try to help out with repairing my own machine too."With that, Minami said goodbye to Dr. Ryosuke and Ryan. Before going any further, Minami stopped, turn around and courteously bowed her head saying, "please take good care of Ryan for me.""I will, don't worry." Ryosuke replied waving his hands.

[GS GAS STATION 11:45 a.m.]

At the gas station, Fumihiro and Iketani are busy repairing the Papaya Orange Audi TT."I can't believe Ryosuke asked us to repair this..." Fumihiro said."Tell me about it,"Matsumoto commented. "This is the first time I worked with a German car. Honestly, after D has fulfilled its expectations of conquering all of the Northern Kantou, I miss mingling with the settings of Fujiwara's 86. But I guess this car could be no different from that.""Don't be." Ikentani answered. "Cars such as this? Their parts are hard to find. It's just by chance that I know a regular here who had his Benz repaired."Coming out of the store onto the crew in the garage is Itsuki."Sempai, what are you and D's ex crew doing there? Putting something up for your S13?" As soon as Itsuki saw the Audi, he blurt out into a squeal..."KUUUUUUUHHHHH!! AN AUDI TT!? I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!! CAN I MINGLE WITH YOU GUYS?""No!!" The 3 answered."This is a car that Ryosuke asked us to fix. We don't want the likes of you to mess around with something this foreign." Iketani told Itsuki."Sempai, that's just so awful!!" Itsuki said breaking into dramatic tears.Moments later, a silver S14 K's aero stops by at the gas station."Good Morning to you!" Itsuki said as he asks what the driver would want."Could you fill it up? High octane please..." a girlish voice came out of the Silvia's side window.Hearing that a girl was driving, Iketani dropped his tools and runs towards the S14. He bumps Itsuki out of the way to do service himself."Let me get that for you." Iketani said while blushing."Huh? That S14... That could be the client Ryosuke was reffering to." Fumihiro said."Eh?" Iketani wondered.A girl stepped out of the passenger seat of the S14. "May I please see my car?" Minami asked Iketani.Iketani escorts Minami to the Garage, where the Audi was. Frankly, the TT is 95% repaired."So you must be the owner, huh? Ryosuke told us about you.""Ryosuke? You know Dr. Ryosuke?" Minami asked."OF course, haven't you heard of the famous Project D?""Project D? What's that?" Minami asked."Forgive her, she's just new around Gunma. She came from Hawaii just days ago." Kaoru told Fumihiro. "Anyway, save the Project D info for someone else who is interested. For now, how's the Audi that Ryosuke asked you guys to fix?" Kaoru followed."We're just about done. I just need to test the upgraded engine. It's my first time to try and modify a V-type engine. Hope I did well though..." Matsumoto said.Seconds later, a white 180SX came by. It was Kenji, part of the Akina Speed stars that Ryosuke was talking about. "Guys! I just heard some news around Haruna and..." Kenji's lines were cut short as she saw the S14 and identified its driver."You're Kaoru from Hiroshima!!""that's right! The hottest driver to set foot one of the best records in Hiroshima.""Yo...you're Kaoru!?""Yup.""Sorry to interrupt but we're about to see if the TT is fine now."Matsumoto turned on the ignition and the Audi worked.[vroooom!!]"Good job, Matsumoro & Iketani.""Just doing our jobs.""so, what's the total power output of the Audi?" Kaoru asked."290 at best." Fumihiro answered."We even made a few weight reductions to the car. Most of Minami's stuff is light so we need not to move 'em away." Fumihiro commented."Thanks a lot you guys." Minami said."Now, OFF TO YOUR REVENGE!!" Kaoru shouted."I told you, it's not a revenge." Minami corrected."C'mon, with that much power for your Audi, it's far enough to take on AKio Asakura's Lan Evo 4!""Hold on, are you talking about the GUARDIAN?""Guardian?" Fumihiro asked."Well, it's like this..." Kenji described."Ever since Takumi and you guys were on your expeditions, after Tsukuba, some guy in a Lan Evo 4 started dominating Haruna like crazy! Day, night, rain, shine, all conditions. He was even close to beating Takumi's downhill record. If I were you, I wouldn't mess around with this guy. Although he's not like those guys from Team Emperors, he's still a no-gooder for a driver of Haruna.""well, we're going tonight and prove once and for all that Minami's better.""I'm not going there for that." Minami corrected Kaoru, again. "I don't want anything bad to happen to my Audi if he ever spotted me in the streets. He nearly killed my brother, I can't forgive him for that. I don't like the idea of revenge but I don't got a choice. I do nothing, then sooner or later, he'll come chasing after me. It's time I end this rampage.""Yeah, well... just because you beat me on Hiroshima doesn't mean that ALL street racers want to race you now." Kaoru said with a grin."Well, with this setup, you won't have much of a problem. Trust us when I say this." Matsumoto said."Well, thanks again. I won't let your efforts go down in vain.""KUUUUHHHH!!! THIS IS GONNA BE SWEET!! A RACE BETWEEN THIS CHICK AND THAT RALLY-LOOKING LAN EVO 4!!" Itsuki squealled."Rally looking eh? Looks like you're not the only one who got a few upgrades yourself, Minami-chan." Kaoru said."It doesn't matter to me at all. Alls I care about is my car and my brother." Minami said."Well, we'll be rooting for you. We'll be there in Haruna tonight." Iketani said."Thanks a lot for your support guys. I'll be going now.""Here are the keys, Minami." Matsumoto said handing them over."Thanks again." Minami boards her car and drives off back to the hospital. Kaoru's S14 followed along."Do you think she could do it? Sempai?" Itsuki asked."Probably, when I doubted Takumi losing to Emperor's Seiji, I stood corrected. This Audi could have some hope too.""But this Lan Evo is different compared to Emperors'. She could lose to him." Kenji said."I wouldn't be too sure about that." Fumihiro said. "She had the same aura as that of Fujiwara. She has that same aura, I can tell you that.""I totally agree." Matsumoto commented.

[Haruna's Peak. 8:55 p.m.]

A man in a Bandana stood atop Haruna's pass. He's standing next to his Lancer Evolution 4. Looking at the car, it reminds us of the 1996 WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP. It had the same color scheme as that of the ex contender. He is accompanied by Yuuya Takuma and behind him is his Green Sileighty, along with a few members of their unnamed team."Nothing seems to be going on much tonight." Yuuya said."Yeah... but I have a feeling something's up." The bandana man said."Yeah?" one of the members at the back said while talking on the walkie talkie. "You're kidding! Sure, I'll tell him." He hangs up and runs to the bandana man."Akio! Akio! You wouldn't believe this!""What is it then?" Akio asked."That Audi you wrecked a day ago...""what about it?""Is coming here right this instant!"Hearing that, everyone was shocked. Akio's eyes were shining in fear."The car's in a convoy with 2 silvias, an MR2, and a Hi-Ace support van. And they're on their way up here!!""What do we do Akio?" Yuuya asked."Let them be. I think I didn't do enough carnage compared to that last race. I'll finish that car off tonight.""That little boy didn't learn at all." Yuuya commented with an evil grin.Moments later, the Audi came just as they expected. The convoy went to the side and stopped while the Audi made a U-turn and stopped parallel to the Lancer."You... what are you doing here?" Yuuya said to Kaoru who just stepped out of her Silvia."I've got something to tell you guys... You messed with the wrong person.""What are you talking about? You lost to that kid in the Audi remember?""If a Kid and you are reffering to a guy? Then you must have something at the back of your ears." Kaoru commented."What was that?""If you lost to that Kid, then there's no way that you could beat me either Yuuya. The real driver of that newly fixed Audi will show herself...""Her...? What in the world are you talking about." Yuuya asked.Later on, Minami stepped out of the car and revealed herself to the opposing group."You seriously think I'd believe that? You lost to a girl?""Believe it, chuckles. And you just lost to her little brother and have messed with the wrong person."Minami looks at the Lancer. "(I'm right. That's the same Lancer that tried to kill my brother. I won't forgive this guy for what he's done.)"Akio tilted his head and looked at the girl. "Whoa." he silently said. "What an aura... I'll make sure of it you meet up with your little brother at the place where he is now." Akio followed in silence.Minami stared at her opponents eyes. They both knew that a race will be coming up. Between them.

Chapter 7 - Guardians' Battle!!

Akio and Minami both boarded their cars. Yuuya went to the center of the road to declare a countdown. He later on raised his arms to signal the start.FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! GOOOOO!The 2 4WD's took off in a blink of an eye! Akio was able to gain some ground in the straightway being his Lan Evo a Turbo. Minami just maintained her line and followed the Lan Evo. "First hairpin!!" Akio mentioned. He decelerated, braked and gripped through the first left hander. As soon as he came to the corner's exit, he heard a thump. "Don't tell me she..." That's right, Minami went closer to the inside of the corner and used the gutter to gain a bit more speed.Minami's concentration is all focused on the Lan Evo. She easily kept up. She didn't ease up on the accelerator either. The next right corner is coming up and both drivers hit the apex, approximately 2 centimeters away from the guard rail.Back atop...Fumihiro recieved a walkie talkie call from one of the street racers below. He said that the gap between the Audi and Evo is pretty slim. "well, that wasn't a surprise." he said."Matsumoto and I decreased the weight of the Audi from 1450 to more than a thousand kilograms." Iketani said. "By the looks of that Audi; outside, it's light but the weight says otherwise... it's like a GT-R in there." Matsumoto followed."Just because of weight eh?" Kaoru said in curiosity.Back with the race...Minami was maintaining a fast pace as she gets closer and closer to the Lan Evo. The first chicane before the second section was next. Minami used the gutter on the first right bend, but was too fast for the second left hairpin. She gasped a bit, braked and turned hard. "At this rate, he'll increase the gap. GO furhter into the inside, my Audi." The Audi recovered a bit of momentum at the exit. To her suriprise, the gap hasn't changed. Akio is still a bumper away."This is just the first section. The straights here are long and there are only hairpins available. Not much of a challenge, yet I can't get away from this woman. I'll show her my true ability before we reach the right hand of doom." Akio strategized as he shifts his Evo from gear 2 to 3. An Unusual backfire sound came out of the LAn Evo's Exhaust. "What's with the backfire of his car? The sound is hurting my ears like crazy..." Minami said in slight pain. Despite that, Minami still kept on going. She closed in again on the Evo, even after the soft right corner leading to the first checkpoint. A pair of hairpins are coming up and both Akio and Minami shifted down to gear 2; controlling the acceleration of the car, they both tapped their accelerators with ease. Although Minami was attacking the outside, her speed is high enough to maintain their gap at the exit. The long straightway pass the skating rink is up and Akio is gaining ground. He stomped on his accelerator and went all out on the straight. "Oh yeah!! Give me the power baby!" He said as his Evo makes another weird backfiring sound. Minami was calm as she followed the Evo which is increasing the gap.Back atop (again)...Another call for Fumihiro. "What's that? A weird backfire sound? That doesn't sound good.""What doesn't sound good?" Kaoru asked in curiosity."The sound that the Evo 4 is making, is the same sound that WRC cars are making also." Matsumoto answered."And that is...?""A misfiring system." Fumihiro answered. "I know because I witnessed another Evolution with the same upgrades twice as I could remember. That Evo used it against Ryosuke but it wasn't much of a purpose at all; yet its true capabilities... that evo used it against the once known Haruna's 86 when he came to our home course at Akagi.""I see... Minami must be in a deep waterloo at this moment.""The only way for Minami to win is to ensure that Akio doesn't make use of the misfiring system by no less than a hundred percent.""I need to tell her that!" Kaoru quickly took her cell and called Minami.Back with the race...Minami's phone is ringing. She took it with one hand as she held the steering wheel with another. "(Good thing this is a straight...)Hello? What is it Kaoru?""Akio has a Misfiring system installed. That's the reason why you kept getting irritated by the backfire of the Evo 4. The one used by WRCs to prevent lag. Make sure he doesn't use the full potential of the system. Gain some ground on the corners and decrease the gap ASAP.""Thanks for the info." Minami said as she hanged up. At the same moment, she was 100 meters away from the next corner. She decelerates and makes use of engine braking to slow down the car. She rides the gutters to decrease the gap and eventually, she's back on the Lan Evo's ass!""Yosh! At the next straight, I'll burry her!!" A couple of lights flashed behind him; "Wh...what the!?" It was the Audi. "How could this be? My Evo is Rally modified, even with the Misfiring system! Why is it that this TT keeps on coming back?" He said in an irritated tone."You won't get away from me!" Minami shouted.The Right Hand of doom is next. Because Akio was in a state of shock as he entered the corner, the Evo understeers all the way to the outside. Minami's Audi rode the gutter and Clears the corner with ease; but the Evo was able to regain the lead because of the turbo,once more. Akio tried to increase the gap but the Audi is stillstuck behind him. "She's in the slip stream. That's why I can't leave her! On the next corner, she'll surely get out of the slipstream and position her car for the turn." Akio shifts to gear 5 on the long straight. There goes the muffler again. That bang, bang sound came out of the Evo's exhaust.They're positioned at the outside of the corner. They both braked hard and turned hard as they approach the apex. Because Minami's Audi was lighter, this gave her a cornering advantage. Her car veered more into the inside and nailed the apex. Akio was too busy concentrating on turning that she didn't notice the incoming Audi on his side. "What!? No!!" They now faced the straight but Akio tried to do a PIT maneuvere on the Audi. It failed. He expected the Audi to lose control but it didn't. As the depth of Haruna's pass deepens, the speed of Minami's Audi TT increased. The gap expanded.Back atop (again again)..."The Audi! The Audi got the lead!!" The man in the other call line shouted.Everyone was in a state of shock.Kaoru was happy!!"IT'S NOT OVER YET!! THERE'S STILL THE FIVE HAIRPINS!! AKIO CAN STILL REGAIN THE LEAD FROM THERE!!" Yuuya screamed in anger."I know it's not over. Akio IS gonna WIN."Back with the race...The first hairpin is up; Minami rode the gutter. But there was something wrong with the Evo. His failed pit maneuvere caused his car to veer outward at every right corner. A part on his front left suspension broke. As he turned right, all of the weight is suppressed to the damaged suspension causing major understeer.Clearing two right corners before the 5 hairpins, made more damage to the front left suspension, and the outcome appeared - at the first of the 5 hairpins.To Minami, it seems that Akio wants to ram her and cause her to lose control. "Don't you see? The race is over! There's no point in gaining the lead back by ramming me to oblivion." She mumbled as she cleared the next set of corners.The Evo just kept on going despite the damage. He minimized the gap a bit on the left corners but loss a lot of momentum at the right corners. As soon as he exits the last left corner, the Audi dissappeared. The gap must be more than a hundred and ten meters - enough to declare a victor."GOD DA-" Akio's words were cut as he used his horn to clear the sentence.Kaoru, Iketani, Fumihiro and Matsumoto got on their cars and went down the pass to meet up with Minami at the base.Yuuya was in a state of shock and can't help but throw his glasses on the pavement and stomed on them. "We must be having a nightmare here!! How could we have lost to a bunch of kids!!" he said... later on, he prepared his lungs and screamed "THIS CANNOT BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Minami parker her car at the base with the hazard lights on. She can't help and say that she felt bad about winning. "It's not because of the course, nor the fact that I sorta expected more from Ryan's opponent... But it must be the feeling that I won just to take revenge for my brother... If this is how racing is going to be... I'll stop racing from now on..."As soon as ske finished her sentence, Kaoru and the others came along. Kaoru quickly got out of her S14 and hugged Minami. "You were so cool! Minami sempai! You're my idol (for a kid that is)! DAISUKI-DA!!""She is right, y'know? You remind us of my ex-workmate, Takumi!" Iketani said. Fumihiro nodded at what he said."It's a great match. You did well..." Matsumoto complimented.Despite all the praises, Minami became gloomy and just stared at the asphalt.Kaoru looked at Minami's depressed eyes."Look, I know you hate taking revenge; and you know that revenge is bad. But If I was your brother, I would be happy. Not because you took revenge for me but because you showed them the kind of person you really are behind the wheel. Who knows... everyone might look up to you like a hero... Don't get so gloomy! I don't want you to end up like that gaylord from the Wangan area who shares the same name as your state of mind now... Go on... show me a smile."Looking at Kaoru's puppy face look, she said. "Okay Moriyama. You win." Minami smiled to let Kaoru know she meant it. "But this is the first and last time I'll race for something such as this okay? You know it goes against my own conduct." "Alright. Next time I won't force ya. If they want to race you over something like this again, by involving others, I'll let you take the call. It'll be up to you whether to accept or decline." Kaoru answered.The two girls made a pinky swear over their discussion. Both of them smiled at each other.It was like a celebration among 2 visitors and 3 locals. It was a happy moment for Minami.Behind the bushes, though there's someone overlooking the scene. His face was covered; lurking in the shadows. At his back was obviously an ER34 Skyline. He adjusts his specs and leaves afterwards.

The story shifts from Haruna all the way to Mt. Zao. There, a street race is about to take place between Zao's finest local drivers and the visiting team - Scuderia D. By the looks of how they manage the team and crew, resembles a lot like our well favored Project D.The only difference? The leader of Scuderia D, Takeshi Musashiro, is also the downhill representative. His best friend and long-time colleague, Takumi Fujiyoshi, is the team's uphill representative. Both drivers drive somewhat identical cars to that of our original heroes - Keisuke and Takumi.

Takeshi leads the pack in his Metallic green RE Amemiya Asparada drink RX-7 street version. Behind him is Takumi's custom tuned, turbocharged AE86 Levin; at the back are their 2 support vans - a couple of Honda Step Wagons.

The team arrives at the Zao parking lot by 7 in the evening. It was mid winter at Mt. Zao. The roads, however were regularly plowed for the convenience of the drivers. Tonight was no exception.

In the parking lot, waiting for Scuderia D is a man who resembles Nobuhiko Akiyama of the Saitama Alliance. His name is Noboru Yamane. His car? A GC8 Subaru Impreza WRX STi Ver. 5 sedan. Parked beside him is one of the kings of Zao's uphill - Hiroyuki Okamoto. His car is a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 8 GSR. Both of them were selected by majority of the locals to go against Scuderia D. The Real master of Zao, nicknamed Absolute Emperor, aka, Yetti Fang, is no longer active in Zao's roads and has not drove there ever since the encounter with Emotional King..."Hey, Noboru" Hiroyuki asked. "Do you have any information on Scuderia D?""Well, the only thing is, is that they're somewhat the second generation of Gunma's Project D a year back. That's all there is I know..." Noboru said in a tone of doubt."Any idea on their cars?""Just an FD and an 86. I heard their 86 is for the uphill.""Uphill? They must be nuts! My Evo contains around 500 flat horsepower.""Really? That's only 50 hp higher to my Impreza.""But your GC is lighter right?""And more balanced. It's fit for the downhill.""for a 4WD? Who'd go against that?"Their conversation was cut short as soon as a racing-tuned 13B REW Engine came up close. Behind it is a much louder 4A-GEU Turbocharged engine. The convoy parked at the other side of the parking lot, far from where Hiroyuki and Noboru parked.

A guy in his early 20's came out of the FD. Another guy of the same age came out of the 86. It is Takeshi Musashiro and Takumi Fujiyoshi."Yo, Takky. You didn't tell me about this..." Takumi said in disappointment."The locals whom I contacted didn't tell me at all. I guess as long as we're here, we should finalize the settings. We're dealing with the top 2 4WD's that ever stepped into the world of Togue - more or less... the 2 forbidden vehicles.""An Impreza and an Evo... well, the evo's a regular already but that Evo looks as if it came from the Wangan."Takumi uttered."If you look at the course layout of Zao, it's a mixture of wangan straightways and togue hairpins. This is a difficult course especially if management is to be taken to account. The tires and brakes will fade if we're not careful with the speeds that we could reach..." Takeshi said as he analytically stared at the main road.Meijiru, the team's spokesman (resembling much like Fumihiro) came back to the team to report on the start of the battle."I told them that we haven't practiced the course already." Meijiru uttered."Then we have to get started on the settings pronto." Takeshi said. "Taku, we are to go around the course twice at 50%.""That's nothing. My 86 can handle it.""Your car maybe light, Taku but that doesn't clear the fact that your victory against the Evo 8 would be assured.""Nah, I got it co-... say what? I'M FACING THE EVOLUTION!?" Takumi panicked."That evo is the uphill representative. I'm facing the Impreza on the downhill. Besides, our battle will go first so you have a lot of time to plan on your attack." Takeshi assured his colleague."Fine." He replied as he boards his night gray Levin and does a few runs around the course. He revs the engine all the way to the 8500 rpm red zone and boosts out of the parking area.Back with the 2 masters..."They seem to handle the team well. You're right Noboru, they DO resemble Project D in some aspect." Hiroyuki commented in amazement."I told you so. So there's no need to be upset over an 86." Noboru followed."Yeah you could be right. But don't you think we should practice too?""Don't need to. We always race like this am I right? Just race like we always do."

The 86 has already passed a few turns and is doing well. "The road though is a bit rugged. The center of gravity of my 86 is pretty low in order to maintain a higher speed but is creating sparks like that of an F1. If we're gonna do something with the settings, the suspension could be a critical point in this." He said. Later on, he approaches the next oncoming right hairpin, Takumi brakes at a hundred meters before the corner but it wasn't enough to clear the corner perfectly at the inside. The car veered outward because of some unwated speed. Takumi immediately brings the car out of the drift and brakes long; close to a stop but enough to stray the 86 away from the guardrail which immediately could spell his downfall. "Now I get what Takeshi is trying to say. If I brake too late, I'll face That ... if I go too fast, I will face it too. I never knew speed limiting could also change the tides of the race. I need to keep that in mind. I don't want to crash unlike Hiroto when he tried to imitate a 4WD's drift in his FD at Akagi. I'll make sure of it!" Takumi rockets out of the hairpin and drifts through the medium bend because of the turbines causing the rear tires to spin more than usual.

[7:30 p.m. - DOWNHILL RACE - ZAO - FD VS GC8]

Noboru parks his car at the starting line. Takeshi's FD follows. It's a side by side start so everything would be fare and no time would be wasted for a second round.Takeshi was known before as the White Charisma of Haruna until he traded his run down FC for an FD; then on, he was known as the Black Comet of Gunma. All of his battles were perfect until he saw in a gymkhana meet a green FD, close to that of his black one. He decided from there to trade his FD for that. It was only available in that color - green; but Takeshi didn't care. He knew that the FD he's driving now is more powerful than his old one.

The race begins and both cars accelerated off the starting line. Because the Impreza was a 4WD, it obviously took the lead. At the 300 meter straight, Noboru makes some ground distance between him and the FD. Takeshi quickly shifts from gear 2 to 3 in fast motion. Flames came out of the FD's exhaust and charges for the GC8.The gap didn't change much until the wide right corner; the FD clings to the Impreza as it decreases the gap. "The FD is running as how I like it... what a feeling!"But at the exit, the Impreza slowly increases the gap once more."I still have the advantage at the exit!" Noboru exclaimed.Looking at how the Impreza runs at the ruggeed surface of Mt. Zao's road, Takeshi can't help but praise his rival..."An Impreza, huh? Not a bad choice for a place such as this. But my FD is much more suited for this battle!!"Takeshi said.On the next corner, Noboru's acceleration is a bit timid as he sticks to the inside.Takeshi takes the advantage and aims to overtake on the outside. Noboru's having no trouble at all letting the FD make it's move. "This is just the start. Anything could happen here!"To the FD's dismay, the speed wasn't enough to gain the lead. The Impreza regained ground and still holds the lead."Don't you think you're taking this a bit too early?" Noboru questioned Takeshi.Next comes a left corner; Both drivers brake at the right moment. Noboru's tires skid a bit because of too much hard braking. "Too slow." Takeshi said.As they clear the corner, Takeshi's FD nudges to the outside. The space between the GC8 and the wall is a perfect car's width fit for the FD to squeeze through. This time, the speed is far more than enough to gain the lead. Noboru, however, wasn't surprised.As soon as Takeshi owns the lead, his line changed - he wanted the race to end as soon as possible. He wants to reach the biggest distance he could make to end the race. His FD swerves as soon as he hits a light left corner getting ready for a right hairpin.At the exit, the FD does a bit of a fishtail as the needle hits 9800 rpm. It was a bad move as Noboru tries to make use of his acceleration to close the gap.Yes, the battle is tight as 2 miles were cleared off the course.There's just one more corner before both drivers reach the test of their skills. Takeshi aims to increase the gap some more at the corners by fully making use of the outside lane for a higher top speed.As they reach the dirt section - all hell breaks loose for the FD.Takeshi immediately, has his arm itching to raise the e-brake. He brakes long and shifts all the way from gear 5 to gear 3. Raising the E-brake at the same time, the FD is nudged to a 20 degree angle from the outside slowly aiming at the inside. Noboru notices the flaw of the FD's setting and taps the rear bumper of the FD, hoping that it'll lose control. It just brought the FD to the desired angle to drift through the outside corner with ease.At the next corner, Takeshi does the inevitable - inducing the FD for a long drift around the corner until he clears it.Noboru, this time is amazed. "You maybe good at inducing your car to a drift and maintaining it but... can you control it without LOSING MUCH SPEED in the dirt?" he said.It's hard for Takeshi now to drift the car, maintain its balance and block Noboru's Impreza.At the straight, Takeshi is concentrating too much on not losing control and he forgot about the Impreza behind him that zoomed through the inside!"Hi-ai..." Takeshi uttered as he positions his car at the back of the GC8.Takeshi hopes to gain the lead again at the corners but the road condition is too much on the GC's advantage. Noboru pulls away bit by bit as Takeshi aims not to lose control while trying to keep up. The high revs cause the FD to spin out and Takeshi counteracts this by shifting early; yet this cost him a bit on the battle.Another group of corners gave Takeshi some hope. His brakes are fading quite a bit and are not as strong as the Impreza's that closes the gap once more.He was side to side with the GC and yet, loses the chance because of his speed.Another ray of hope appears as Takeshi sees the end of the dirt section of the road. It's smooth again. "Alright! Thank you asphalt! Now for Noboru! His weakness is he sticks too much on the inside. Drifting helped a bit. But the main attack point here is the corner's exit! Zao's course resembles a bit of a pattern. After a hairpin is a small bend of the opposite side... He'll switch from the outside and cling on the next corner's inside leaving room to overtake! Let's see if my observations are correct. The goal is just ahead!!"Both braked; however Noboru positioned his GC in the middle leaving no room for Takeshi to overtake. Ther is a flaw though... the next bend. There was room to overtake for Takeshi, and he took that chance. "Although he's a turbo, the speed of my FD at the outside is much higher, giving me the upperhand!" Takeshi said.Slowly, the FD regains the lead; just in time for the next corner up ahead - a short uphill until the apex and straight for the rest of the downhill. Takeshi slowly gains ground and Noboru was brought to a state of shock."I thought that I'll be able to win on the dirt. He's amazing. Controlling an FR in such a surface... he's a great driver!" Noboru praised Takeshi in his own car. "But I think, Hiroyuki could overcome this...""My FD is the Most balanced car in this class! With this, The conquest is already unanimous!!" Takeshi exclaimed in excitement!He was so happy for this is the first time he brought his green FD to a race expedition. Slowly as the FD and Impreza finish the rest of the course, the gap was still constant - it was a huge gap... And as what Takeshi said. The result IS unanimous.

Noboru and Takeshi got back from Mt. Zao's base, which means that the race was over.Both got out of their cars and went to their respective teams."How'd it go, Takky?" Takumi asked."I won. Obviously." Everyone in Scuderia D's group got shocked. "H-How's the FD?""For a first run, it did more than I expected. It's controllable even at the dirt. But I think dirt driving at high speeds would be out of the question to my car. The tuning is perfect. There's no need to alter anything in it anymore. We'll leave the setup as is for the rest of the expeditions.""That's a lot of crap coming out of your mouth, Takky. You better watch your cockiness." Takumi warned his companion."Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. You need to worry about your own problems, Fujiyoshi." Takeshi pats Takumi's shoulder and heads for the support vans to get a bottle of water.Meanwhile, at the other side of the parking area..."Wow. I can't believe your Impreza lost." Hiroyuki said."His FD... the modifications are not like that for the mountains. More of like in between the D1GP and the Circuit. Even in the dirt, his car ran well. My Impreza was outmatched." Noboru admitted."But I'm not gonna make the same mistake you did. I'll play around with my opponent. If he breaks, that's when I'll outrun him."Noboru and Hiroyuki saw one of the members of Scuderia D saying that the hillclimb is about to start."Well, I'm off." Hiroyuki said. He boards his Evo 8 and drives to the base.Takumi wasted no time at all and follows the Evo. Before he could do so, Takeshi asked one last thing about his 86."Is the setting fine?" he asked."I got it covered. We adjusted the suspension and rose the ride height for rugged control.""Good to hear."Takumi zoomed out of the PA to tailgate the Evolution 8."But what did he mean by rugged control?" Takeshi wondered.

[MT. ZAO's Base - 8:00 p.m.]

Hiroyuki stayed infront while the 86 behind him. Obviously, they're aiming for a sudden death match as Hiroyuki plans to outrun the outdated 86.Takumi revs the engine all the way to the 8500 rpm red zone. Hiroyuki heard a hissing sound out of the 86. "A turbo, eh? No wonder he's the uphill driver. Only an idiot would race in the uphill without one on that car." He uttered. "No matter. My Evo will thrash his. Zao's known for it's long straightways. I'll finish him off there."The signal for the countdown is given and both drivers held tightly on the wheel.3! 2! 1! GO!!Both cars zoomed out of the starting line.The 86 is falling a bit behind after the start off. But there's something wrong with the Lan Evo..."Why is he slowing down? Does he want me to lead? If that's what he wants, so be it!" Takumi presses on the gas harder and overtakes the Evo, which was leisurely cruising on the outside lane."Although my 86 is light, I don't want to waste any tire grip through the corners. I'm reserving them for braking. I guess grip is the only way." Takumi said. He smoothly, shifts from gear 4 to 3 and grips through the first right hairpin. The 86 veered a bit on the outside but the entry was good enough to avid the wall."So-ko-da!" Hiroyuki said as he exits the corner.For some unknown reason, the Evo's speed doubled and is now gaining close to the Levin. It quickly overtook Takumi's 86 as if it's just standing there."Amazing acceleration... What's up with him?" Takumi wondered.It was too confusing."He's fast, no doubt but... why did he overtake me immediately when he let me take the lead back there?" he followed.As the upcoming left corner approaches, Takumi pressed a bit harder on the gas to minimize the gap. He knew that if he slowed down even for a second, the Evo will just keep increasing the gap moment by moment.At the exit of the corner, Takumi's turbo spooled and caused the rear wheels to spin.By the straightway iteself, the gap increased once more."Not yet... not yet..."There's a pair of 2 wide left corners by the end of the straightway. Takumi had a plan that hit him at the back while on the straight..."To counterattack, I need to use one of those "moves" me and Takky do before."As both cars entered the first left, the 86 disappeared for some reason.Hiroyuki checked his rearview mirror. "Wha- the 86! It's gone!! How come?"Hiroyuki slowed down a bit as soon as he exits the second left corner. From the inside, the 86 flashed its head lights and overtakes the Evo."Is that the legendary... blind attack?" Hiroyuki said. "Moments like that, are only done by the likes of Project D's Takumi Fujiwara... How did he execute the attack so perfectly?"As Takumi places his car infront of the Evo, the next corner is up. He immediately brakes infront of the Evo, which caused Hiroyuki to lose control and nimbly hit the outer wall. By the time the next straightway is up, Hiroyuki's confidence returned and pressed harder on the accelerator. "Your blind attack is just nothing but an intermission!! That won't stop me." And for the second time, Hiroyuki overtakes Takumi and regains the lead. At the same time, the dirt section is up. For some reason; this time, Takumi's 86 is acting unlikely now. The dirt should spool the turbo even more but his car is completely stable. how? Takumi's muffler is a high rev unit. The greater power is brought out at the higher rpm's. Takumi shifts at the part where the revs are starting to go erratic. At the left upcoming hairpin, The Evo and 86 are still back to back. Then a right hairpin, and still no change in the distance.At the long straightway, Takumi is gaining ground some more. His 86 is closing in. A light left bend is up and Hiroyuki's speed is too high. He decelerates and sticks to the inside. Takumi prepares and overtakes the Evo 8.As soon as Takumi overtakes the evo, a wide left hairpin is up. Hiroyuki still has the 86's rear tire next to his front bumper - the right position to do a PIT maneuver; the 86 however is gaining speed without losing control on the outside. "No way... is this for real? does his 86 have that much balance?" He uttered.Takumi centers his car on the straightway and corners. Hiroyuki can't overtake at all.After the dirt section, Hiroyuki sees a gap and attempts to overtake but he's on the outside. Both braked and steered to the right but the Evo's understeering as they're running on the same speed into the corner. The Evo hits the 86 at the PIT area but Takumi kept the car's balance all throughout the corner.3/4 way of the corner, Takumi tried to get away from the Evo and there it happened. His car is induced to a drift thanks to the spooling turbo that caused the rear wheels to spin like crazy. Luckily, Takumi countersteered just in time to avoid a 180 spin and an understeer. The 86 cleared the corner beautifully.One more corner and Takumi does it again... drifting the car through the corners.The gap increased bit by bit.As the corners become easier to maneuver through, Takumi wasn't hesitant to make use of his turbo through the corners, letting the car get induced to a drift.The gap increased more and Hiroyuki decided to give up."I think underestimating this 86 and playing with it is a bad idea..."As for Takumi..."Well, that worked out well... in a way..." he said with a grin as he shifts to gear 4. Flames came out of the 86's exhaust as it vanishes into the misty background. Scuderia D won and their races were the time trials. New records were set. And that's the end of it.

----------------------To all reading:In order to have a faster update on this... I hope if it's alright with you if you could leave a comment before I post the next chapter... to avoid the double posting you know... thanks... now... the next chapter:----------------------

Chapter 10 - An Unfamiliar Reunion

2 weeks passed and we're now back at Hiroshima, nothing much is happening. Ryan has fully recovered from his injuries and they're on their Christmas break. Hiroshima though is still a bit misty as usual - especially the pass.Night and day; only the sound of an Audi TT 3.2 Quattro embraces the silence. Minami and Ryan practiced when they have the time. The 2 siblings were having a wonderful time doing their runs around Hiroshima's pass. As soon as 8:00 hits Minami's watch, she wants to call it a day."Man, I'm beat." Ryan said."But it's great to be back on our car again.""At least, this time, I'm supervising everything you do; unlike before when I am not around and you sneak off with the car.""Promise sis. I learned my lesson." Ryan said as he crossed his fingers without his sister seeing it.Minami goes to the refrigerator to grab some milk. "Oh no." She said."What? Is the milk bad?" Ryan asked as he went to Minami."No. We don't got any in our Ref. Lil bro, could you buy some milk for us?""Are you saying that you're letting me drive just to get some milk?""What do you want me to say then?""Oh, nothing. Gimme the keys, Minami." Ryan said as he happily steals the keys off his sister's pocket."Don't crash this time." Minami said."I gotcha!" Ryan replied as he closed the door that leads to the garage.The Papaya orange audi drove off the drive way.Minami later on, steps out of the house and watches Ryan drive off."Looks like my little brother has grown up a bit. I think he's more responsible with the car. I'm so happy for him." Minami said to herself with a smile.

[Convenience store, Hiroshima - 8:10 a.m.]

"brrrr... the outside is much more colder than inside the store. Sheesh. Looks like snow could fall first thing tomorrow morning I bet..." Ryan said as he warms himself up. He shivers as he boards his car.Before he got on his own car, 2 other cars approach from the other side of the street. It's a black AE111 Trueno BZ-R and a Black ER34 Skyline. "Cool. More street racers for me to make mince meat!!" Ryan said in excitement. "But I guess I shouldn't..." he followed. As he saw the vision of him in their old Audi TT being rammed to bits under Akio Asakura's Evo 4, he never said a word. As he looked to see the 2 cars that passed again, they disappeared."Maybe after lunch, they could be in Hiroshima pass... but I think I shouldn't keep my hopes up too high." Ryan said. He now boards the car and drives off home.

[Hiroshima PA - 8:12 a.m.]

The black AE111 and ER34 were there as Ryan had hoped. The driver of the AE111 was Kawasaki Kochiiro - member of team Midnight Masters and with him is his apprentice, Kaede Shimuji. But what happened to his red S15?"Tell me, Kaede... why did you choose Hiroshima? Why not Nikko or Rokko passes?" Kochiiro asked."I don't know. For some reason, I have a calling here. It's like there's someone telling me to come here. Someone told me that I should meet someone here...""Sounds a lot like what an EMO person would say.""You don't know the first thing about EMO people. They're as complicated as they come." Kaede said, crushing his empty can with his foot."How's say we ask the locals here who we could meet.""That'll be great. Do you know anyone?""Well... no." Kochiiro said as he lights his cigarette."Easy with the mari, Kochiiro-sempai. You don't want to die early now do you?""What's that supposed to mean? You're still too young and I'm older than you. You will know when you're older.""I don't think I want to know at all." Kaede said in a monotone.He turns around and stares at his ER34. Kochiiro looks at Kaede's eyes as it stares on the R34. Later, he brings up a question: "Why is it that you traded your S15 for something like this? It is a skyline but is not enough to be as dominant as the GT-R... Don't tell me it has something to do with Tomo now is it?""Part of it actually. I want to know for myself, how Tomo feels when he's behind a car such as this. Plus, I overheard a couple of guys from Akagi about how they think of the S15 Silvia. And they said that it's a bad car. I don't want to know the outcomes of driving a car that is difficult to control..." Kaede answers."I don't think that you should change your car just because you heard others talk about it and risk the embarrassment. It's your call which car you want to drive. But I guess it's too late now is it?""Probably. But I have more benefits with this ER34 compared to my old S15.""You're sounding like Tomo already..." Kochiiro said as he stared intimately at Kaede."Shut up. I'm nothing like him." He said as he looks at the neighborhood. Later on, he spoke: "You know... there's something up with Hiroshima's pass... As if... The cherry blossoms never die here. They just keep on blooming non-stop even at this time of the year.""You're right." Kochiiro agreed. As he tilts his head to the left, he saw a couple of locals and called them over."Hey guys. I have a question." Kochiiro told them. "Who has the fastest record here in Hiroshima?""Are you planning on challenging her to a race?" the local asked back."Her?" Kaede verified."That's right." The other local said. "The fastest record holder here is none other than Kaoru Moriyama and her S14 K. She's far the best in Hiroshima.""Nah, I don't think so." The other local argued. "The girl in the orange Audi is far better than Minami.""An Audi, you say... what model? is it an A3?""Nah, It's a TT.""If I'm right, it's the second latest model - a 3.2L Audi TT.""This sounds interesting. Wanna say we check it out later, Kaede.""Sure. Whatever." It's pretty obvious by Kaede's answer that he has no Idea how the Audi here runs and is underestimating the drivers of Hiroshima. "(I mean, look at these cars, an 88' S13, a Mitsubishi Mirage, a CRX, Super Carry, AWMR2... all these cars are low powered. My ER34 could easily beat them... Even an Audi TT ain't good enough for me)." Kaede silently said to himself."If you come back before lunch time, you'll see how great this Audi reaaly is. Even her brother is great... although he's a bit childish, he's as fast as his sister." The locals reminded them."Okay. We'll try to see. And thanks for the information. C'mon Kaede.""Where to, Kochiiro-sempai?""Where else? an Inn. I never got any sleep yet. Remember, I did the settings to your RB. I need my sleep.""It's alright, sempai." Kaede answered. "I'll stick around for a little while. I want to explore Hiroshima's pass for a little while longer.""Okay. I'll leave you a text message where I am, OKay?" With that the black AE111 leaves."Where you exactly from, kid?" The local asked."from Hakone. Why?" Kaede asked."Oh, nothing. just want to know..."Kaede just gave them a confused look when they answered him. Later, before they could talk even further, they can hear a familiar engine tone coming up Hiroshima's PA."It's coming! Hurry!" Another local said, that came out of nowhere.The 3 of them ran to the left side of the pass - dying to see what's the commotion all about."That V-Engine tone... it is! IT IS!! It's the Audi TT!!" They all said.Kaede had to see this for himself.The engine roar slowly became louder. Moment by moment. They later on heard a backfire sound out of the car's exhaust. Flames were released with it. It's approaching the first hairpin. The driver of the Audi raises the E-brake as it enters the hairpin while braking. The rear went loose and the TT is in a drift. Because of the German 4WD system, it automatically repositions the car to a 0 degree, with a little twist.The Audi stopped drifting exactly at the apex but the car is not understeering as it passes through the hairpin in full acceleration. It zoomed past the locals that were making all of the fuss about its coming."Wow! It's just like 'em.""I swear that was Ryan driving not his sister.""Aww man! I wish that it was his sister; she looks so fine behind the wheel of that car.""You can say that again. But whether it is that cutie Minami or her hyper brother Ryan, they could surely raise the cred of the local drivers here in Hiroshima!!"Kaede intimately stared at the Audi as it fades into the horizon. He didn't waste enough time as soon as he saw the Audi fade into the distance. He got on his car and drove off the PA, aiming to see that Audi."

[SUZUKI RESIDENCE - 8:30 a.m.]

Ryan closed the gate and went inside but... he left the keys hanging and he didn't know it. "Sis! I'm back!!" He hollered as he closed the main door of the house. Outside is Kaede in his black ER34. His ER34 looked different - nothing like an ordinary ER34... it looked more like a GT-R... the C-west body kit answers that phenomenon and the low custom spoiler that he had installed made it seem as if his car really IS a GT-R.The flat black coating looks fearsome in some way. Kaede notices something flashy hanging at the gate."I think I better give them their keys back before they lose it." Kaede said as he got out of the car.He gets the keys and rings the doorbell. Waiting for someone to answer the door, he glances at the orange car parked in the garage. It's the Audi. Someone came out of the house. A young, cute girl who looks like she just came from her morning shower and got newly dressed. Kaede's heart suddenly started beating faster and faster as soon as she came close."yes?" the girl asked."Um... Papaya... I MEAN... Your Keys..." Kaede said as he hands it over to her."huh? How did it?""It is hanging on your gate and I decided to give them to you before somebody else takes it.""Thanks a lot... um...""Kaede. I'm Kaede Shimuji.""Thanks Kaede. I'm Minam-" Minami's words were cut short as Ryan hollers to his sister."SIS!! HELP ME! I CAN'T GET OUT OF LEVEL 43!!""Alright, alright. I can't believe you started that game without me. Come down here a sec! You did something bad a while ago and... just come down here!" Minami answered back."Alright alright, what is i-..." Ryan's words were cut short as he sees a familiar face.Kaede too was silent and was amazed as he looked at Ryan."YOU!!" They both squealed."Finally I get to meet yoU, SandWarriorGPA" Ryan shouted in excitement."I never knew you were this young, multipleShadow99""um... you know him, Ryan?" Minami asked."Yeah. On Allyster. He's one of my friends. I knew it is him because he has the same look as his photos on his album.""Same here. We're only forced to use codenames but through chat, I know him personally.""Come inside, Kaede.""Thanks, Ryan..." Kaede said as he humbly closed the gate for them."Now I know that the hell you've been doing in the internet for a long time, little brother..." Minami said in an ironic tone."Oh, yeah... Kaede. This is my big sister, Minami. Don't worry about her. She's as silent as a Koala.""What's that supposed to mean?" Minami said as he pulled Ryan's ear."Ow Ow Oww!!" Ryan squealed in pain."It looks like you two really get along just swell..." Kaede said while giggling a little."Come on in. Make yourself at home." Minami said as she courteously escorts Kaede to the Living room.From that moment on, Kaede was able to meet up with a friend whom he never knew personally and met a new friend as well. They had an early lunch and played a few games for long until...

[12:30 p.m.]

"Ryan, Let's go..." Minami said."Eh? What for?""Ahem. Don't you remember? Our daily routine. Downhill practice in the fog.""Oh, yeah... hold on. Let me get my driving shoes.""So the rumors are true. You two are the fastest in Hiroshima?" Kaede asked Minami."Well, I wouldn't say the fastest. We don't challenge much. It's us, often who're challenged. And my brother just got out of the hospital 2 weeks ago.""He came out of the hospital? He crashed?""Assaulted could be a better word for it." Minami replied."But he's fine now, right?""Yup. HE doesn't care about the pain anymore.""C'mon sis. Sorry, Kaeds. We have this... how should I say, gas-wasting practice.""What are you calling gas-wasting, huh? It's your turn to gas up the car. Luckily, half is discounted by Iketani san at Gunma for doing them a huge favor." Minami told Ryan."Don't worry, Ryan." Kaede assured. "I'm in a way, like you.""Y...you're into street racing too? What car do you drive?""A Skyline. R34 model.""What's that? I never heard of that in Hiroshima for ages.""Really? You don't know about the all famous Skyline?""The only cars we know here are our own car, the locals' and a Lan Evo 4 is far the strongest we encountered. No Skyline yet." Minami said."I see." Kaede said as he held his chin."Is your car fast? Does it go vvvvvvvvrrrrroooooooooooooooooooeerrvroooooooooooossssccccrrrreeeeeeeee..." Ryan said as he makes a driver's pose while standing up."Y...yeah. Far the best. It has a long range of credibility.""I want to see how fast your car is... Or you could be just bluffing.""Am not..."As Minami closed one of her eyes with her palm, she says "Oh, boy. I think I know where this is going to end up in.""I challenge you!!" Ryan said."I accept!" Kaede answered back."I knew this is gonna end up like what's happening now." Minami said as she sighed."Sis. Let's skip our practice run. I want to race, Kaede instead.""Okay. But I'll be with you.""Hey, isn't that unfair? said"What are you talking about?" Minami asked. "You still have the upperhand at this case. I'll be my brother's handicap.""Yeah, a 45 kilogram handicap." Ryan said with a chuckle."I'm just a 42 for your information!!" Minami squealed at her brother."Okay. I accept your terms."

[Hiroshima PA - 12:40 p.m.]

"did you hear? the new kid was challenged by OUR audi driver.""Who challenged? Ryan or Minami.""I heard it was Ryan.""No way, that kid? I really wished it was her instead of Ryan.""You're obsessed with Minami aren't you, you pedo...""Hey!!""Give it a rest guys. This is the first time that One of them has ever challenged someone else.""He's right I mean. When they were new here, she was challenged by Kaoru. Then, that other night, Ryan got challenged by that Sileighty. Not to mention the challenge that the Evo gave to Minami that nearly cost Ryan's life.""You mean Akio and his Evo 4?""Enough with that. Who do you think will win?""What his rival driving anyway?""I heard it was a Skyline.""an R34?""yeah.""woooooohhhh!! This is gonna be sweet!!""A David and Goliath Battle is about to take place!! Righteous!!""You said it. this is quite some race here.""Hold on, is it a GT-R or a 25GT?""Who cares?A skyline is a skyline.""I'm down with that."A lot are spectating the sunny... well, foggy match of Ryan & Kaede. Even some who are from other regions came to Hiroshima to spectate this epic battle. The Haruna Speed Stars are there - the green S13, the white 180 and AE85; some from the red suns like Fumihiro's MR2 and Kenta's S14Q... Even those from saitama came to check it out... Wataru's AE86 is there (what is he doing here?) and so is Nobuhiko's Altezza (him too!? What are the two of them doing in HIroshima?)."This race really reminds me of Takumi facing against Nakazato... Imangine a black Skyline facing off against Minami's Audi. Kuuuuhh!! Sweet!!" Itsuki said."Yeah but I don't think it's Minami driving this time." Kenji said."Eh?""Kenji's right. I heard from a couple of locals that her brother Ryan is racing.""Well, that sucks. I wished it was Minami..." Itsuki said as he hugged himself senseless while making flying kisses all around him."Itsuki, what ever happened to 'street racers don't need girls'?" Kenji asked. Itsuki wasn't listening. Iketani and Kenji just gave a sigh.The Audi and ER34 parked on the very peak of Hiroshima's pass. Looking at the 2 cars just gave out an aura for the spectators to stare at. It's exciting and frightening at the same time.

Chapters 6 & 7 were the low points of this fic. FD VS Impreza could've been described more clearly.

QUOTE

"He's fast, no doubt but... why did he overtake me immediately when he let me take the lead back there?" he followed.

*facepalm* ARGH! He's so slow!

And, is it just me, or does every single EVO driver try to spin out people?

Things have improved a little in the recent chapter though.

QUOTE

"Oh, yeah... Kaede. This is my big sister, Minami. Don't worry about her. She's as silent as a Koala.""What's that supposed to mean?" Minami said as he pulled Ryan's ear."Ow Ow Oww!!" Ryan squealed in pain."It looks like you two really get along just swell..." Kaede said while giggling a little.

That was a simple injection of fun.

QUOTE

The engine roar slowly became louder. Moment by moment. They later on heard a backfire sound out of the car's exhaust. Flames were released with it. It's approaching the first hairpin. The driver of the Audi raises the E-brake as it enters the hairpin while braking. The rear went loose and the TT is in a drift. Because of the German 4WD system, it automatically repositions the car to a 0 degree, with a little twist.The Audi stopped drifting exactly at the apex but the car is not understeering as it passes through the hairpin in full acceleration. It zoomed past the locals that were making all of the fuss about its coming.

And that was one of your better descriptions.

QUOTE

"Kenji's right. I heard from a couple of locals that her sister Ryan is racing."

I didn't see that. Changed it. Thanks for that one. And about every EVO driver spinning out their rivals... only 2 evo drivers here: Akio's Lan Evo 4 and Hiroyuki's Lan Evo 8.Hiroyuki's intention is like that of Tomoyuki Tachi - a racing tactic to break his rival's concentration. Same goes for Noboru why he hits Takeshi's green FD.Akio's is different - he wants to LITERALLY ram the living daylights out of his opponent, wanting them to lose control or crash.Now on the next chapter...-----------------------------------------

CHAPTER 11 - True Capability

It's not a night race but a lot of locals showed up for this thrilling battle. The fog at Hiroshima pass becomes even denser and it's hard to see the road ahead making the challenge even more critical than usual.Minami sat on the passenger seat of their Audi, holding a map of the pass. Obviously, she's Ryan's navigator.Kaede revs and practices his timing while his car is on park.One of the locals came up to start the battle."Get ready!! THREE SECOND COUNT!!" He said as he raises his arms onto the sky.Kaede and Ryan firmly got hold on the wheel and their feet tapping the gas slowly increasing in revolution.As soon as the local throws his arms down, both drivers took off. The Audi gains the lead."The Audi took the lead.""Well, no duh! It's a 4WD.""So that GT-R is not a GT-R.""It's a 25GT. An FR. I want to see how this will turn out."Majority of the locals have no idea what an ER34 could do. The car is something that we could say unorthodox. Not much mountain racers drive this kind.Ryan's foot is glued to the gas pedal and the gap increases slightly.Kaede was calm enough to try what he could do.The first bend was up and both cars were exceeding the highest possible speed they could take. Everyone in the outside of the corner fled, thinking that they'll crash.Evidently, the Audi's body is still clean. It was a centimeter away from the outside. The ER34 does likewise but gains too much turning radius and Kaede immediately flickers the wheel to the opposite side to regain balance.The first medium right hander is up and Ryan's TT understeered yet came out clean once more. Same goes for the 34."It's like the two of us are reading the same strategy, Minami. How cool is that.""Let's talk later, right now, you got a left-right chicane followed by a left hairpin. Concentrate, Ryan."At the right corner, Ryan's rear tires skidded and understeers again slightly to the center. It has something to do with Ryan's driving style. Minami doesn't handle the car this way."Let's see if you got what it takes, Kaede my friend." Ryan said in an obnoxiously confident tone.They now cleared the left hairpin with Ryan on the outside and Kaede on the inside but still a car's length away from Ryan. It's pretty obvious at this moment that Ryan's doing a somewhat Kamikazee driving style.Every corner that comes up, Ryan aims for the outside. To gain some more speed through the corner? Or for some other unknown purpose? Kaede attacks from the outside to the inside but his speed ain't enough to overtake during the corner."You're a good driver, Ryan. You remind me of someone I knew of before..." Kaede whispered to himself.looking at braking, Kaede brakes early while Ryan does otherwise. And every end of the corner, Kaede oversteers by a notch at the exit of the corner. They've passed the high speed section and are now on the checkpoint to the mid speed section. Everytime they exit a corner, Ryan was startled at the black ER34 closing in."What is this? What kind of driver IS he?" Ryan said. His hands are shivering as he holds the wheel. Minami notices this and brings her little brother back to his senses. "RYAN CONCENTRATE!!" She shouted.At one corner, the TT downshifts from 3 to 2, with flames out of the exhaust as the car veers outward but with a little twist. Halfway through the corner, the TT gains grip and comes out on the inside.He does it again on the next corner and Kaede was left behind."Amazing... changing his driving style has increased the gap I've closed..." kaede said.After one of the critical corners of Hiroshima, Ryan was too busy flooring it on the straight that 150 meters before the turn, he braked hard; which in turn for Kaede brings the gap back to how it was before as he brakes half the distance that Ryan took.At the low speed section, Ryan goes back to his original driving style - turning at the outside. This in turn, for some reason, increases the gap a bit more, but he quickly changes his style again as the left hairpin is up. He glues his tires onto the inside."If you plan on changing your style... then what are you exactly doing?"Kaede can't seem to find the right words to finish the first statement and ends up kissing the tire rack that is on the outside of the hairpin.As more low speed corners come up, Kaede gains ground again and closes the gap.Ryan's having a hard time tapping the gas and brake vigorously at every turn.From a low speed back to a medium speed section, Ryan goes back again to his outside-driving style."What's with this kid? He changes his attack point at every corner. I don't understand it." The locals commented."But would you look at that, Our TT gained so much ground on the outside that the gap DOUBLED in length."The crowd cheered as the Audi increases the gap bit by bit.After a minor setback for Ryan on the chicane section, Kaede regains the previous gap but is now frustrated. "All I can do is catch up... is there someway for me to get the lead?" He's having a hard time with the steering wheel now. The load in the front is dramatically increasing. Kaede plans to change his driving style as well.Seeing it from a few lefts and rights, Kaede is becoming aggressive on his turn in. At one small hairpin, he let's his car slide from a feint drift, immediately going to a grip entry.For Ryan, it's much worse. Changing the way he drives INTO a corner has affected his tires a lot."The load increased dramatically. Ryan, you might actually lose this race."Ryan is sweating a lot despite the air condition and is looking desperate as he turns the wheel.Because of the load, the Audi brakes at sections where Ryan should've ungassed instead. Kaede did the latter and brought the gap back to a bumper to bumper state.2 corners left before the goal and the gap isn't enough for Kaede to counterattack.As they reach the base, the fog thins out and as soon as the 2 cars see the end of the road, Kaede now plans to overtake.Ryan goes for the outside while Kaede brakes really late and hits the inside of the corner. Both cleared the corner with the cars side by side to each other."It's the final straight!! I did it!!" Ryan said. He forgot all about his opponent as soon as he sees the long straightway."Full throttle, little brother!!" Minami commands her brother."I still have a chance at this!!" Kaede said as he punches his gas pedal to the full."Ryan though forgot about one thing that the ER34 has. A turbo.Kaede knows that and makes the best out of it on the straightway.As both drivers shift to gear 4, the gap was made. The ER34 slowly pulled away from the Audi which seems that it's still in gear 3.After the short, wide bend, the finish is in view and Kaede surprisingly cleared it first.Ryan was defeated. His eyes narrowed. So did Minami's. They never thought that he'd lose in the most basic part of the course. As the Audi exits the corner, it' kissed the outer wall a bit due to too much tire wear.Kaede won on his first try of Hiroshima's downhill.An amazing fight? or just a fluke battle? Whatever it was, it surprised hundreds who were watching the battle.

-----------------------------short newsflash.Bad news: The next battle of this story is going to be the last one.Good News: This is just Volume 1. Meaning, that another Volume of Kyushi will take place.Better News: Two of the ID Characters will be two of the lead characters of the next Kyushi Volume next to my original characters!Clue: 13B lovers, get ready for this!!Get ready for the upcoming chapters of this fanfic!!

Hiroyuki's intention is like that of Tomoyuki Tachi - a racing tactic to break his rival's concentration. Same goes for Noboru why he hits Takeshi's green FD.Akio's is different - he wants to LITERALLY ram the living daylights out of his opponent, wanting them to lose control or crash.

Yes. But you kept saying "PIT". That's a manuever used to spin-out someone (quite different from a concentration breaking bumper tap).

Anyway, your descriptions for this race show a little improvement. And it's ending was written clearly and was also plausible.

However.

QUOTE

Ryan is sweating a lot despite the air condition

Umm. . Running the A/C takes power away from the engine.

Keep updating.

QUOTE

Better News: Two of the ID Characters will be two of the lead characters of the next Kyushi Volume next to my original characters!Clue: 13B lovers, get ready for this!!

Okay, so you got me on the PIT thing screwed up. Well anyway. Let's Leave it at that Now for the last Chapter of Volume 1 and I'll be working on Volume 2! There's a small spoiler at the end of this Chapter to give you an Idea on how Vol. 2 will go.------------------------ volume 1 Final Chapter - The Ultimate ER34 Battle and Minami's

Departure

[SUZUKI RESIDENCE - 8:00 a.m.]A few days passed after the battle between Kaede and Ryan at Hiroshima. Everything was livelier now that Kaede makes his debut at the course that Ryan and Minami drove on. They became the closest of friends. One day, Kaede visits their place once more offering something to them.Ryan is in his game console, obviously playing. Unfortunately for him, he still can't get out of Level 43.Minami anxiously watches his brother play. They got the whole day off and this is how they, well actually, one of them spends it on. The doorbell rang. "Sis, could you get that?""Way ahead of you, Ryan." Minami answered as she goes down the stairs.She opens the main door to see who it is."May I hel- oh, it's you Kaede.""H-hi Minami. Say, are you and Ryan busy?""Well we're not. But my Brother up there thinks of his game as 'busy'. He still can't get out of the same level for a long time.""I see, well sorry to have-" Kaede and Minami overheard a loud scream of joy on the second floor. It's Ryan. He finished the level. "FINALLY!! I BEAT LEVEL 43!! What now?""Ryan, could you come here? Kaede's here. He is offering us something.""Hold on! I'm saving it." As soon as the saving is complete, Ryan rushes down to the gate to meet up with Kaede. "Hey, Kaede. How's it hangin?" Ryan said, acting like one of those American rap artists."Hey, since Minami said that you two aren't busy, how's say we go to Mt. Aso?""Where's that?""I know where. We'll go in my ER34.""That's uh...""my car? The car that beat yourz!""Oh! Right! Now I remember." Ryan said while slapping his cheek."Sure, we can go." Minami answered. "Besides, my car is still in Iketani's gas station, fixing up the dents that my brother did at your race." her tone slowly became serious as she tilts her eyes to her little brother."I told you, I'm sorry.""I know you are; so no racing until then.""WHAT!?" Ryan freaked out and got on his knees begging his sister to reconsider."Don't do that infront of our guest, Ryan.""Sorry.""So, how about it?""Sure. WE can go. What do we need?" Ryan said rubbing his hands."You just need your snow jacket, a thermos, and your important belongings if you want to bring 'em." Kaede enumerated. "Oh, and a sweater and some change of clothes too.""Why?" Minami was curious about Kaede's list. Why are they all related to snow gear?"Oh, I forgot to tell you. The snow is deep in Mt. Aso. It's a good vacation spot. Let's say it's my treat for you know... a thank you for that battle we had.""Okay, let me just get what you told me." Minami said as she goes back into the house.Minami placed everything that she needs in her handy, shoulder bag - her cellphone, a notebook and pencil for drawing, her camera, and the necessities that Kaede mentioned.A few minutes later, she came out. She's wearing her turtle neck vanilla colored sweater, some winter jeans that contrasts to it and her nifty eskimo-like boots. "Where's my brother?"Kaede points to his south east direction. Ryan is pushing a lot of things into the trunk of the ER34."Ryan, what did you put in there anyway?""Oh, these? Just my figurines, my cellphone, my comic book collection, my trading cards, my pocket game, my figurines, my...""Didn't Kaede say the necessities?""These ARE the necessities.""Take them back home and get what you NEED. Like what I got here." Ryan makes a pouty face and brings all the stuff he took out back in. He just got his wallet, Minami's wallet, the house keys, his music player and his music player. He gives Minami her wallet then gives Kaede a thumbs up saying they're ready.All 3 got into the black Skyline. Kaede slowly shifts it to D and the ER34 smoothly accelerates out of the Minami household. "Your car's an automatic?""Yeah. I'm not used to a manual. It's too hard for me; especially when I race.""Great. I feel ashamed.""What about your Audi, Minami. What's your car's transmission?""Ours? It's a tiptronic if I'm right.""Really?""Yeah, one of our cousins back home replaced the full manual in our car for a tiptronic. The ability of an Auto and a Manual in one gearbox." Ryan told Kaede."Interesting... the only car maker I know that has that kind is Mitsubishi and Porsche."Minami's cell phone rang. SHe looks to see who is calling. It is Kaoru."Hello?" she answered. Kaoru kept on telling Minami how great the battle was even though her brother lost the race. When she asked her if she could meet up, Minami apologized saying that she & her brother are with Kaede at the moment. Kaoru was disappointed. "Oh well... Next time. I assure you that. I'll introduce you to some Authentic Food if you have the time. Ciao." Kaoru hanged up. As soon as Minami hanged up the phone, they're now on the shutokou expressway. They drove all the way to the south of Japan.

[MT. ASO PARKING LOT - 12:34 P.M.]

They made it. Kaede parked his car near the entrance booth to the ski resort. He buys 3 sets of skis, snowboards, and ice skates rental tickets. "So, where do you want to go first?" Kaede asked. As soon as the 3 made up their minds, they started with ice skating. Kaede, as he walked, felt as if something struck him from behind. He looks and sees another Black ER34. "I wonder who he is. His ER34 looks the same as mine from this point." he told himself."Kaede! Hurry up!" Minami shouted waving her hands to Kaede."I'm coming." he later replied.Moments later, all 3 are now on the skating rink. Ryan is getting quite the hang of it but... without any shoes. Just his socks. Kaede was used to ice skating since he was little so it is no problem for him. Minami is losing some balance a bit but she's improving and doing as fine as the other two.After a few minutes of doing a few rounds around the ice, they had a choco break. They went to the restaurant near the parking area and took their seats. They ordered 3 hot chocolate drinks. Minami added hers with a strawberry short cake dish. From there they talked about almost anything that came into their minds. Later on, the discussion became serious as Kaede asks an unfamiliar question to both of them."Have you met this guy?""Yeah.""He didn't show the picture yet.""Do you have one?""Of course I do." Kaede shows a picture of Tomogashi Kitsumoro."Nope." Ryan said."How about you Minami?""Well... I... no" she said with a sigh. "We never met him yet.""I see.""Do you?""Yeah. He's famous around the togue scene.""But I think he hasn't been to Hiroshima lately.""That's because he's out of the country. He's having his International Racing Tournament at the West.""Wow." Ryan said. "I'd wish I was like him.""That's a hard life, then; don't you think?"Their discussion was cut short when their orders arrived."WE better hurry. I don't want to wait in line in the skii ramp.""Whoa, Chill Ryan." Kaede mentioned."There's still a lot of time for that.""Yeah, I know." He replied.

[4 hours later]

Minami and Kaede are busy taking pictures of each other around the snowy area. Kaede browses the parking lot for that ER34. He sees it by the row near the main road. There was somebody talking to someone else who's in a blue GT-R34. But it wasn't Tomo. The Blue R34 had a C-West Body Kit and a wicked vinyl. He's one of the racers from Mt. Zao - Zao Tempest of Blue Avalanche. The person whom he was talking to is Hiroshi Matsuoka, a well known hashirya in Mt. Aso. He's nicknamed as Right Brained in the Internet. "He must be the owner of that other ER34. I wanna introduce myself to him."Kaede approaches Hiroshi. Hiroshi is a tall guy with a fancy hairdew that goes down until his shoulders. He notices the kid approaching him."Um...""Yes? May I help you?" Hiroshi courteously asked."Is this your car?""Yes it's my car. Why do you ask?""Well... are you a street racer.""Partly yeah.""It's because... I'm fascinated in your car. I have the same model?""Oh? Where?""Over there." Kaede pointed to the entrance booth."Let me take a look see. By the way, the name's Hiroshi Matsuoka. And you are?""Kaede. Kaede Shimuji.""Aren't you the one who is known around Hiroshima recently?" he asked as they approached Kaede's R34."Yeah it's me. I didn't figure that the news would reach this side so quickly.""Internet my friend. The BBS says it all. You were the talk of the town of the Hiroshima thread, next to your opponent. anyway about your car..."As Hiroshi got closer, the front bumper disappoints him for some reason.

He puts his head down and starts walking away."Are you fooling me kid? That's no ER34. That's a GT-R.""No need to be angry about it, Hiroshi-san. It's a pure ER34.The C-west body kit makes it look like it's a GT-R but there's no badge." Hearing that calmed Hiroshi down as he double checks the back. It says 25GT on the lower right area below the lights. "Oh, my mistake.""So why do you suddenly feel irritated when you thought my car was a GT-R.""Well, you see... I don't think I'm worthy for an R. A GT-R I mean. The power and ability it has? It's completely different to an ER34. I devoted myself to this car but everytime I see a GT-R, I feel otherwise.""Why don't you buy a GT-R then?""I told you, I devoted myself to the ER34. I can't back down from my own words. That'll dishonor what I said.""You got a point there.""Sorry about my reaction when I saw your car." Hiroshi apologized extending his hand."Yeah. Me as well." Kaede answered. The 2 drivers shook hands and another phenomenon happened. "What is this? I can feel as if his palm... is directing a challenge..." they both wondered."Wanna race then?" Hiroshi asked."I'd thought you'd never ask. Before we do, can I see your ER34 as well, Hiroshi?""No problem."They went to the other car and hiroshi popped the hood open. Kaede sees a big turbine on the side and most of the parts were replaced. Kaede's ER34 only had an ECU and muffler change. Not to mention the low-level spoiler he added to replace the C-West version. "Mind if I ask... how much hp is it making?""Around 450 horsepower. Far the best in the togue as of now. There are other ER34 drivers but their power outputs are far too low than mine. There's one guy in Zao who owns a yellow ER34 but only has 25 hp less than mine - still not an equal. I've defeated quite a few opponents with this. And I never changed the settings at all. The settings I have are for Aso and Aso alone." Hiroshi confidently said.Later on, Ryan and Minami approached Kaede."What's happening here?" Ryan asked."I want to race.""Race? With who?""This guy. Mr. Hiroshi Matsuoka.""Hello. Don't worry. Kaede requested this race. I have no objections to this. I want to see his driving style which he's famous for at Hiroshima.""Alright." Ryan just said. Actually, he has nothing to say at all from the beginning once he saw Hiroshi talking to Kaede."Um... guys, I'll just be in the restaurant okay? I'll be in the computer cafe next to it." Minami told her brother."Okay." Ryan said as he approached the group."Are you guys starting or what?""Yeah, we will be later on. We just need to talk about something concerning the course." Hiroshi said."Ryan, we'll be finish in a little while; why don't you prepare the starting line for us?" Kaede requested."No way, man. I'm not your manservant!!" Ryan snapped and walked away."I'll give you 2000 yen for this.""Okay." Ryan immediately ran towards the starting point at the long straightway of Mt. Aso's pass. Minami, who's in the i-net cafe, opens her email. She sees a message from one of her acquaintances back at Hawaii. She quickly reads it and as soon as she read the most important part..."They want me back there. But, isn't it a bit early?" she wondered, scratching her head. "Well, I did not inform the place I work part time for how long I'd be away." While pondering over the possible reasons why they want her back, she got an offline message from her friends. The weird part is, they all say the same thing: Why didn't you say goodbye to us?"Honestly, those guys..." she typed to all of them. I'll be coming home. I promise. She just kept on typing, assuring her friends back at the south west that she's coming back. Meanwhile...

Kaede and Hiroshi's battle is about to begin. It's a runner chaser fashion type of race. Hiroshi's ER34 in front, and Kaede's ER34 at the back. Before they started, Hiroshi got out of his car to say a few words to Kaede. "Hey, Kaede" he started off. "Even though this race is not like a true duel match, let's give it all that we've got; okay?" he extended his hand to Kaede. "Okay." he answered as he gives his hand as well.Things start to become serious. Ryan declares that he's starting the countdown.

"There's a big gap of power between my ER34 and his. I want to see if he could compensate for the distance in whatever form he'd want. Let's see if this kid is as good as they say he is..." Ryan finished the three two one and both cars zoomed off the starting line. Hiroshi's ER34 starts making a huge lead at around 185 meters from each other. Mt. Aso starts things off win a long straightway. Followed by an immediate right hand corner to an uphill. "It is obvious that I lost if the straightway is the only composition of the match. But I hope I have a chance after the first upcoming corner." Kaede uttered as his ER34 struggles to reach its top speed. Being his car an automatic, no flames came out of Kaede's C-West ER34 as it changes gears.As soon as he reaches less than 150 meters of straightway length before the bend, he brakes hard. The car shifts from gear 4 to 3 to 2 in succession."Because I don't use a manual, I need to concentrate more on my footwork and steering control!" At the exit of the corner, Kaede's turbo spools at the end, making the rear right tire smoke out while accelerating.The gap though, wasn't enough to satisfy Hiroshi's standards. It's still too big, even if Kaede accelerated all out. Once, the elevation changes from an uphill to a downhill, the dirt section also appeared."Will I make it?" Kaede uttered. "My car's an FR... can I clear this place?"As soon as Kaede reaches a medium right bend, he brakes and induces his car to a drift by braking while steering. Little before the apex, he countersteers and clears the corner by a thread away from the outer wall."That went well... probably, as soon as I'm in a way close to the corner, I'd have to tap the gas while braking to balance out the car really well...""If he knows it, an FR is unbalanced in the dirt, especially if your settings are only for asphalt use. Even in the straightways, the car becomes erratic, so you need extra caution in handling your car in the straightways..." Hiroshi explained as if he's talking to someone.

Little did Hiroshi knew, the ER34 behind him is closing in just as he expects it to be.At the exit, Hiroshi's ER34 easily boosts itself out of the corner's exit with a flame blowout out of the ER34's enhaust. Kaede immediately concludes something he wouldn't say: "He's fast, he really has the ULTIMATE ER34. His skill is ULTIMATE too..." Just what did Kaede mean by ultimate?Probably because of how Hiroshi brings out the ER34's balance as it drives through the dirt or because of the powerful exit speed of it. As they enter the left corner, Hiroshi's R34 is at the exit while Kaede just came into the corner's entrance.He still can't find the balance through the corners, though he knows the balance on the straightway. His ER34 always skids to the outside, nearly hitting the wall. He's losing speed rather than gaining speed because of that effect and Hiroshi's ER34 pulls away further as he centers at the straight. As they go halfway through Mt. Aso's pass, the roads become more technical and more corners are present - giving Kaede, somewhat the upper advantage.

"A few more straightways, hope he's still in my rearview mirror..." Hiroshi states.After passing a low-speed chicane, he shows a happy grin as he looks at his back. "Can't believe it... he caught up. By the sound of his ER34, it's nothing close to stock. It only has a 300 flat horsepower RB26."They gained enough speed at the next straightway but their speeds are too high as a medium, wide right corner is up and both drivers braked hard. Hiroshi braked longer, thus letting Kaede decrease the gap.Another set of chicane-based corners and the gap drastically decreased to a 2-car length. Everytime there's a straight, the gap increases yet as soon as they start braking, the gap decreases."For a kid, having a close to stock ER34, He knows how to catch up. It is as if the car behind me is a GT-R not an ER." Hiroshi pondered upon.In order to get a higher exit speed than Hiroshi, Kaede let's his car understeer and clear the rest of the chicane by the means of the outside road. Hiroshi has the whole inside covered and Kaede knew that. They exit the right hairpin - the last of the chicane's corners, and Kaede completely minimized the gap. Something though, upcoming, has turned the tides better for Hiroshi - another dirt section. The ER34's acceleration, infront somewhat increased as the tires set foot on it. The gap doubles.Kaede's still having trouble looking for the balance - especially during braking. Suddenly, the unexpected happened."What the!?" Both drivers uttered. Kaede's ER34 is slowly closing in on Hiroshi's."I guess he found that balance he needed.""What is this? It's as if my ER34 became much faster..."Unfortunately for Kaede, the balance was lost as soon as he drifts through the left junction. This time, he hits the wall... well, snow wall to be exact. A few dents on the side because of the rocks but aside from that, it didn't hinder much for Kaede.They're now back on the pavement and Hiroshi is able to pull away. Kaede seemingly is still able to keep up and slowly decreases the gap once more on every light bend throughout the course."I can keep up!My ER34 is close to his...!" Kaede said in amazement over his car's performance.Whilst on the corners, the gap is now bumper to bumper. Luckily for Hiroshi, as he immediately pushes the shift stick to gear 3, his turbo kicks in and boosts out of the seemingly close match.Despite his efforts, Hiroshi is amazed at not what the ER34 behind him is doing but what Kaede's doing. "He's doing great. Absolutely great! He could be worthy of a pure R!!"Even Kaede is in a happy mood. "My ER34 kept up with a 450 HP twin. What a feeling!!"

Hiroshi had to end this. But he didn't mean end this by giving it his all. He eases up and lets the ER34 catch up on the rest of the straights. In fact, the finish is near and there's no point increasing the gap any further knowing he'd sooner or later catch up and overtake. Hiroshi leaves a small gap upon their entry to the last chicane. Kaede brakes late and coincides with the leading ER34 in braking - side by side, leaving Hiroshi to clear the outside lane at a balanced speed - nothing too fast, nothing too slow.

Kaede's approach to the corners however are quite aggressive and slowly, he breaks off the tie and gains the lead. Hiroshi signals Kaede by the means of his headlights saying "The race is done. Let's just cross the finish line." And they did. Kaede was happy; not because he took the lead. He was happy because of the progress he has made. He's no longer the Kaede Shimuji that Tomo knew years ago. He's a totally different driver in all.

[MT. ASO PARKING AREA - 5:40 P.M.]

Minami, Ryan and Kaede are now ready to go back to Hiroshima. Before they could do so, Kaede runs to Hiroshi, who is leaving as well."Hiroshi-san.""Yes?""I'd... uh... like to thank you for that race. I learned a lot on balance.""Hmph. Glad you did." Hiroshi said with a smile."You know, you could go for a GT-R if you like.""Oh, shucks. I'm not worthy for an R; no matter how hard I try. I can still do better in my ER34. But I know that with a GT-R under my control, things wouldn't be the same. And no matter how hard I try, my ER34 won't match to a GT-R any day..." Hiroshi continued with a smile."I know someday you will." Kaede says otherwise."Thanks for the words, Kaede. You take care now. But remember: Our battle today, is not like driving at night. Things are different.""I know that. You take care too."With that said and done, Hiroshi turns on the lights of his car and drives off."C'mon guys. Best we get going too. It's a long trip back." Kaede said to Minami and Ryan. Minami was looking quite disappoined though but neither one asked why.

[SUZUKI RESIDENCE, HIROSHIMA - 9:00 p.m.]

"Whoo! What a day! Hey, thanks a lot for the trip Kaede.""Anytime, Ryan. I'll see you on the internet. Take care too Minami." Minami just gave a wave. As Kaede drove off, Iketani came by."Hey, uh... Minami. It looks as if you just came home.""In fact, we did." Minami answered. So, why did you come here?""I got your Audi from the detail shop It looks fine now. Kenji, why don't you drop the car off the carrier?" Iketani asked Kenji who's near the carrier."Just because I came along with you doesn't mean that I'll work for you Iketani.""Kenji..." Iketani said angrily. "Just do it.""Fine." Kenji slowly drops the Audi TT onto the ramp and drives it into the garage. Later on, Iketani said his "see you some other time" to Minami and drove back to Gunma with Kenji."The car looks better, don't you think, sis?" Ryan asked.Minami just gave a nod. "um... Ryan... I got something to tell you."Minutes later."You're leaving me here? Why are you going back to Hawaii?""There are a couple of things there I forgot to settle. So you need to take care of the house while I'm gone.""Hey, sis. Tell me that tomorrow. When you leave. Not now.""Alright. Let's get a bite to eat and off to bed. I need to pack some of my stuff."

[AIRPORT - 8:30 A.M.]

Minami is ready to leave Japan and go back to his home island. Kaede and Kaoru came to visit Minami's departure."You sure you're leaving? What about Hiroshima pass if something comes up?" Kaoru asked."Oh, don't worry. Kaede'll be there. He'll be just around the next prefecture if you need him. And there's still my brother.""Well, I'm not so sure about Kaede but to be honest, with Ryan holding the glory of Hiroshima, it's a fact that we're doomed.""Yeah that's r-... HEY!!" Ryan disproved as he faced Kaoru."You sure you got everything?" Kaede asked."Yeah. I'm ready.""Before you go... here." Kaede gives Minami a picture of Tomo and a letter. "If you ever come across him, please give this to him. So that he'll know how I'm doing too. We're different when it comes to racing but as friends, we're always gonna be tight." "Okay. I will. Who knows, I might meet another friend.""Minami!! Take this with you!!" Kaoru sweetly said as she gives a teddy bear with their picture stitched in the bear's stomach."You made this?""Uh-huh! See?" she shows off her hands covered in bandages."Sure hope it's not painful.""Don't worry. I'm used to this. I get even more killer cuts and bruises while I fix my S14 when I ain't ready.""Sis. Take this with you." Ryan gives a Bible and a photo album."It's your own copy. Kaede and I had that personalised before our trip at Aso. And that'll always keep us together.""You're right guys. All of this. It'll keep me safe. Wherever I go, you guys - Ryan, my brother; Kaede, Kaoru... you three will be with me." Minami said."That's so... touching." Kaoru broke into tears hearing that."And to my brother, I have something for you." She hands over the keys to the Audi TT."You sure sis?""You've met my expectations, Ryan. The Audi is officialy yours as well.""WOPEEEE!! I HAVE MY OWN CAR!! NOW I CAN REMATCH WITH KAEDE AND I DON'T NEED TO SNEAK AROUND TO DRIVE THE CAR!!""But crash it again and you know what's gonna happen alright?" Minami demanded as she grabs hold of Ryan's head. "Yes sis.""All who are off for flight 3604 Hawaii, please board hall 7. 5 minutes before departure." The PA called out."Well, I gotta go. I'll send you e-mails to keep in touch." Minami said as she gets her trolley and nap sack and leaves."Bye Minami chan!!" Kaoru shouted."Take care!!" Kaede hollered."I WON'T BREAK THE CAR! I PROMISE!!" Ryan screamed to his sister.Moments later, her plane flew off. Minami is already on board. The 3 watched the plane intimately as it disappears into the light blue sky."So, who wants to be the first to beat Ryan in Hiroshima?" Kaoru asked the two."I'm in..." Kaede said."Bring it on! I'm ready!!" Ryan confidently proclaimed.Despite Minami's unseen presence around Hiroshima, things have become as lively as it was when they first arrived. Something ominous though is happening at other passes.

In Haruna, for example, a Vinyl coated Mazdaspeed yellow RX-7 Spirit R type A battles a poorly modified AE85 Levin in a grudge match at the 5 hairpins. Slowly, the FD hits the rear of the 85 and the Levin starts to lose control. The FD overtook it and left the 85 out of commission."Whew, that was lame. Are all the drivers here in Haruna that weak?"A voice came out of the radio tranceiver in the yellow FD."What was that?" the Voice said."Oh, nothing. Just a crappy AE85 of the local team here I think. Nothing but a pushover.""Hurry back, BackStab. The Emperor wants us all back.""I gotcha." BackStab answered as he turns the radio off.His plate shows something that will spell fear to the locals of Gunma. The plate says DEVILS. From above, a parked Red R34 GT-R C-West tuned analyzes the movements of the FD."You're right, Act of War. They're finally here. How're things in Omote Rokko?" The guy said in his cell phone."Not much happening right now. Nothing like what you've seen, 1st Kingdom.""They're finally here. Just as what Kaido president told us. Starting now, I think; you can't trust anyone anymore.""Only those in the Twelve are the ones we could trust.""Anyway, I'm heading back to KP. Best you do the same." He hangs up and makes his way down Haruna as well. His plate says something in a way alike to the FD that just passed. His plate spells KING. Who are these drivers? What's going on right now? The encounter of these two teams could spell the future of Togue Racing for good. Which is on the side of good? which is on the other? Or are they of the same league?

Race scene was boring in some parts, and, again, some of the paragraphs felt cluttered. I also think the ER34 VS TT battle was the best out of all the battles in vol.1.

Oh, and you have a few spelling errors here and there. And it's "touge" (toh-geh), not "togue" (toh-goo-eh).

One thing I can't quite put a finger on though is the strange charm this story has sometimes, even with all its flaws. And I actually like the characters here better than most of the ones in your other story.

Keep on writing. And was that Itsuki that just got spun-out by an FD? Man is he going to be mad.

Some here lasted longer in my previous series. Most of the ones in my other story are new guys. The only ones who were regulars in my series are Tomo, Kasumi, Sakura, Kitami, Shinosuke, Hiei, Ryusen, Tetsuya, Daiki, Hiroya, Shimizu. The rest are new characters so they're hard to make a background of.

Sorry for the flaws, though. Sometimes I type too fast I forgot what I am typing oftentimes.

Now, the start of Volume 2:________________________________

Speed Legend Kyushi Volume 2

Chapter 1 - Reappearance of the Rotary Legend

Mt. Akagi, a technical course located at Gunma, is often been used as a battle ground of the so called Kaido Circuit. This course wasn't classified to be one until now. The previous heroes of this course, namely, the Akagi Red Suns banished after their top two drivers - the Takahashi Brothers instigated Project D along with a driver from Haruna, Takumi Fujiwara.With the disappearance of the legendary team of Akagi, others emerge such as Team Drifters, which unfortunately didn't last long as that of the Red Suns. Their top driver, Hiroto Agesoma is the only one capable of maintaining the name of the team. For some unknown reason, he too has disappeared from the roads of Akagi.Although the Takahashi Brothers are no longer active in the midst of auto racing in Akagi, they still use it as a practice ground. One such driver is the younger one of the two - Keisuke Takahashi. Word is that he frequently comes by the pass to test run a few things on his beloved Competition Yellow FD. With that aside, majority of the new drivers here are starters in the world of Kaido. Not many have been described to be as the fastest of Akagi next to that of the Red Suns' top 1 and 2.A familiar FD came by to the pass one night. In fact, the same car every night comes by searching for the legendary Yellow FD that has defended these roads from the invaders of other prefectures. She's a beautiful girl, in her early 20's. Hair up to her shoulders, eyes like that of a goddess and a figure that most cannot resist; she arrived at Akagi once more, hoping to meet up with that FD. She is Kyoko Iwase. She considers Keisuke to be her "Darling" after their encounter during the Project D expeditions at Saitama."It has been a week's worth of coming here and I still can't find my darling." she uttered."Am I just coming in the wrong time? Maybe he'd come here in the afternoon."She feels her heart beating faster as she thinks of Keisuke. "I guess, I'd better go check in to a motel nearby here. I'm too tired to drive back to Saitama." She brings the car to the opposite direction and leaves the parking area.

The next day came and there she was again. Waiting for her darling to come. Her eyes were too mezmerised that she has the bad tendency of mistaking another FD for her Darling's even if the color isn't yellow.Moments later, she feels and hears the presence of an upcoming 13B REW Rotary Engine. The sound becomes louder and to her surprise, it came to the parking lot and stopped. It is a second generation FD. A Type RS Model, equipped with a Mazdaspeed Body Kit. The color? A sleet Innocent Blue Mica. Everytime Kyoko sees another FD, she's brought into this mysterious trance, imagining her Keisuke come out of that car. To her dissapointment, a girl came out of the said FD."D-Darling?""Who's darling?" the Blue FD girl said."Oh, sorry." Kyoko sighed. She turns around and talks to herself. "I guess, my darling isn't coming here afterall."The girl whom Kyoko spoke to seconds ago showed a confused look. The girl is more or less of the same age as Kyoko. Her hairline following the shape of her head with a few curved hair bends at the end near her neckline. She wore a simple shirt and tight jeans - a casual look if I may say so. Her name is Himiko Amatsuka; she's known as the uphill driver of the team Turbo Division of Usuitogue. She's also Tomogashi Kitsumoro's cousin.Kyoko gave another sigh, which stirs up Himiko's thought about her. Later on, Kyoko gave a weird request to her. "Um... hey, is it alright if... I have a battle with you?" Himiko wasn't surprised much from Kyoko's request. "Okay." Himiko said. Kyoko's mood later on became a bit happy hearing her accept her challenge. "By the way, I'm Kyoko. Iwase Kyoko." she told Himiko."And I'm Himiko. Amatsuka Himiko. Glad to meet you."Moments later, both FD's are on the starting line. Kyoko decided to update the look of her car and got the front of a stock Mazda second generation FD3S. The same front of a Spirit R type A. As for the rest, they're as is. She even still has the same single turbine engine.Himiko's car is very different compared to Kyoko's. Himiko's FD has hers modified by Mazdaspeed and has a large diameter turbine. A stage 3 kit to be specific. With an intercooler infront, the total power output of her FD is nearly 440 hp. A bit too much for the togue compared to Kyoko's much more balanced 350 hp FD.Moments later, the race began. Kyoko decided to take the lead."Darling, please help me in this race of mine.""Hmm? Her FD sounds different." Himiko mentioned as she slowly kept up with Kyoko.Kyoko wasn't in the right mindset and this affected her driving much. She was a bit slow upon exit and doesn't push the car too much. She feathers the acceleration which is slowing down the race a lot; even on the straightways."This feeling... it's like that of my battle against Darling..." Kyoko uttered.Himiko easily kept up with her. The race was slow but smooth. With all the huge power under the Mazdaspeed FD's bonnet, Himiko is too angst to feather the accelerator at the same pace as that of Kyoko. She needs to take the lead somehow; finish this race for good but..."She wanted this race. Finishing this in one swoop might not do well for her. She might feel even worse if I ever do so..." Himiko is thinking of staying behind or not.At every turn, Kyoko grips on the center line of the course while smoke develops on the rear wheels of the other FD. It's probably because of too much power in it.Flames burst out of both exhausts and the race kept going.A series of left-rights by the midsection of Akagi and the gap hasn't changed. The only reason why Himiko can keep up is, again, the horsepower. Because Kyoko positioned her FD in the middle, there was no Room for Himiko to overtake. She had to wait for the wide straightway before the low speed and last section of the course.

A hairpin away from where they are now is Himiko's attack point. Kyoko was pretty much out of it. She's not giving it her all. She's bound to break any moment; and that time is about to come! Both drivers braked; flames came out of both exhausts. Both downshifted and accelerated at the exit of th corner. The difference? Himiko's speed is higher than Kyoko's. Plus, she's on the outside. At the next corner, she's positioned on its inside. Before Kyoko would know it, she was passed. She's starting to hallucinate of her race against Keisuke and spoke the same words: "Don't leave me, Darling!!" Seconds later, she got to her senses. "That's not my darling pulling away. I need to regain my groove." To her dismay, Himiko kept pulling away on the straightway. Kyoko knew, from that moment that she lost. She slowly made her way up to the peak, expecting the blue FD to disappear as she makes it. Another surprise to Kyoko! The FD was waiting for her. She positions her FD to the blue one and gets out of the car.

Kyoko was completely out of it. Her face says it all. She's completely spaced out with a bit of sadness. Himiko gave a cheerful smile back at her. "It was a good race." She said to Kyoko."Sorry. I wasn't... giving it my all." Kyoko mentioned with a little sniff."Are you crying?" Himiko asked. She then took her handkerchief and handed it over to Kyoko."Um... thanks. Something was in my eye.""May I ask... who is this darling you kept on talking about?"With that question, Kyoko can't help but blush. Her mood suddenly changed. She forgot about losing that battle she had. The start of their conversation now lifted Kyoko's mood.Moments later, Himiko got hungry. "Um... do you mind if we continue this over lunch?" Himiko courteously asked."Okay. I know this great restaurant near here. But it's at the base... huh?" Kyoko wondered why Himiko went in her car so suddenly. It looks a bit rude but Himiko gave her stand. She puts the alarm on, raised the emergency brake, locked the steering and brakes up and closed the door. "Don't worry. I'll leave my car here.""S-Sure. Besides, I'll be the one to give you a ride back here. It's more efficient that way." Kyoko answered with a giggle. From that moment on, Kyoko made a new friend outside of Saitama. Himiko felt the same connection as well. Kyoko, on the way to the restaurant, mentions of her encounter with Keisuke, their battle, the aftermaths and how they helped each other out during his Project D expeditions. Both had lunch and Kyoko still kept on talking. Himiko mindfully listened. She was getting intrigued over Kyoko's descriptions of him. She wasn't falling in love over Keisuke or anything. Hearing most of the descriptions of how he races interested Himiko. She came to the conclusion that she wanted to race him.

"...I remember clearly, this is the pass he took me on in his brother's FC. It was the most thrilling drive I ever had. It's still stuck in my mind." Kyoko mentioned. They leisurely drove around Akagi's corkscrew section."Tell me, how far have you gone with him?"Kyoko became silent; her hands gripped the steering wheel even tighter and eased up on the accelerator."I had... my chan...ces...""It's a rhetorical question. Give yourself a break, Kyoko.""Stop bringing me to my happy thoughts too much, Himiko-chan!" Kyoko said in an embarassed tone. The time was almost night time so Kyoko raised the headlights of her FD. As she did so, a pair of headlights relflected from her rearview mirror. She can't see what car it was. Later on, Kyoko jolted from her seat as she saw the car that was about to pass them at a fast pace."Is that him?""That tone. It must be him!!"Kyoko finally has the chance to meet up with the person she's longing to search for. After all her effort, she's finally able to see him again. But the question is... is it really him? Or just another Rotary driver that they don't know of?

The sudden increase in quality was unexpected There's far less clutter in this chapter, and the writing shows you spent more time on this one. There's one or two spelling errors. But good job! Keep it up!

This one made me go "Eh?" though.

QUOTE

Himiko easily kept up with her. The race was slow but smooth. With all the huge power under the Mazdaspeed FD's bonnet, Himiko is too angst to feather the accelerator at the same pace as that of Kyoko. She needs to take the lead somehow; finish this race for good but...

With all the power her FD has, she's too sad to feather the accelerator at the same pace as her?

And why didn't they just drive both cars to the restaurant? Himiko could've simply followed Kyoko's FD to the place.

I hope the later chapters atleast have the same level of quality as this one.

Himiko is forced to feather the accelerator - in order not to hit Kyoko's behind. She has no room to overtake. She needed to wait until the straightway where the lanes become 3 from 2.

Well, they thought that it'll be much economic that way. Kyoko is willing to drive Himiko to the restaurant and back to Akagi. Afterall, she's not done looking for someone.

before I start off with Ch.2, here's a poster/ art I made using my own drawings, img downloads and photoshop:Now, Onto the chapter!!

Chapter 2 - Reunion...

The oncoming car, an RX-7 to be specific, was running so fast that it made it seem that Kyoko's FD is as if it's just standing still. This time, as soon as it passed them, she was happy. It's a competition yellow RX-7 with an RE Amemiya Body kit. A light compound GT wing at the back and the rest all points to one specific driver, that we all know, of that FD. "Is that the car you're talking about?" Himiko asked."I am sure of it! I can't wait to go back to the PA." Kyoko happily answered.

At the parking lot, meters later...The Yellow FD parked on the left side of the parking area. A handsome guy, with spiky hair and in a tight shirt and denims, came out of the car. It's Keisuke Takahashi. It's been 2 months after the Project D expeditions ended.There were a few changes to his FD. The retracting lights are back - he eventually got bored of the old lights even though it looked better on it than today. The Wing's height is raised and the material is made of carbon. The rest of it? Well... it looks the same as we all know of it. Kyoko's black FD came up the parking area. Himiko looked closely at the guy who is sitting next to the Yellow FD."So that's Keisuke Takahashi. That's the person you're looking for?" Himiko asked.As she turned to Kyoko, her hands were shivering. Kyoko feels her heart beating faster and faster. She can't reach the seat belts as her hands were too frozen to move at all."You alright?""Um...""Just go for it, Kyoko. You waited so long for this guy to show up. You need to pull yourself together. You told me that you came all the way here to see him everyday for the past week. Don't let your efforts go to waste."Kyoko mustered up her courage and stopped shaking. She's now ready to face Keisuke. "I'll do it!" Her eyes were flaring with determination. Her aura increased in size. She's ready to face him! She got out of the car and...

She's shaking again. She held her hands next to her chest. She slowly came up to Keisuke who is looking at his FD. "My FD... It's better now than it was before. I did a few changes on it and increased the turbine. The Engine only puts out 10 more hp compared to when I first tested it. But it didn't matter. Uphill or downhill... I have attained the balance that my brother sought for in his FC. It's too bad that my brother retired and needed to continue the family business. Not even an Evo, a GT-R nor a JZA had a chance against this car of mine. The FD is the best!" Keisuke gave himself a huge laugh after saying that.

"Darling hasn't changed but in a way has as well..." Kyoko silently said as she intimately looked at Keisuke. She took another step but ended up stepping on a plastic cup. Keisuke heard the noise from his behind and turned around, seeing a blushing Kyoko Iwase looking back at her. "You..." Keisuke uttered. It was a silent moment for the two of them. The wind passed them by and warmly passed the couple."Um..." Kyoko can't say something that'll get Keisuke's attention. Surprisingly, Keisuke started it off, which in return surprised Kyoko. "You know... I haven't been this excited to see you. For some reason... I just wanted to meet someone here. Someone who's outside of the Circle of Akagi's drivers. How's your FD? Is it doing well?""Well... I did a few changes to it... but I still got the Single Turbo equipped. I'm not so sure if I could handle a twin turbine FD such as yours... I don't think I could handle it... (What are you doing, Kyoko!? Talk about something else, why don't ya!?")" Kyoko is obviously running out of words. Sooner or later, she'll hear her darling say that she needs not to come here anymore. He might say the same things he said to her after their date one night."At least you're doing well..." Keisuke said with a smile."Um... thanks. (What's with him tonight? Seconds ago, he's wondering about my FD... now he's wondering about me? Is this for real?) You're doing well yourself, if I may say so...""Ah... heh heh... you sure? I really never got time to drive alone here because of work. Looks as if going pro puts me on a ton of pressure...""Really? Is it hard in the pro league?""Well... in my experience..." slowly, the two were on another world. Kyoko listening to Keisuke's stories and asking him a few things and he in return answering them. At least, for Keisuke, none of the people he know are here to embarass him. They had a long talk about stuff that interested them. As for Himiko, she was getting cooked up in Kyoko's FD and decided to step out. She goes to her own FD at the other side of the parking area to chill out. Keisuke's words were cut short as he saw Himiko walk to her FD..."Darling... what's wrong?""Do you know who she is?""Her? I just met her. A friend of mine.""You! Come over here.""ME!?" Himiko wondered in surprise. She's wondering why Keisuke called her all of a sudden. Is it because she was eavesdropping on their conversation or something?Before one of them could even speak, Kyoko interrupted them and introduced the two of them to each other. "Um... darling... eh, Keisuke... this is my friend, Himiko Amatsuka. She's from Mt. Usui. Himiko, this is Keisuke, the person I told you about.""Nice to meet you.""Same goes to you. By the way, she mentioned Usui. Are you somewhat, part of a team?""Yeah. Turbo Division is the name of our team.""Never heard of 'em.""Seriously?""Well, only the famous sileighty is what I've heard of so far... Sorry about that.""No need to apologize."Slowly, Himiko is getting along with Keisuke. Most of the time, Keisuke is obnoxious when he talks with someone and only gets along with his team members. While talking, Keisuke can't help but notice the blue FD across the parking lot. "Tell me, is that your FD over there?""Yeah. Wanna see?""Since you mentioned that... let's see then." Himiko escorted Keisuke, who's being followed by Kyoko, to her FD.

Himiko popped the hood open. Keisuke had a look see of the engine. There's a large diameter turbine on one side. An intercooler in the front. Aftermarket headers, and so fort. "How much power is it making?" Keisuke asked."435 at most..." Himiko answered."Really!? No wonder I lost to you. My FD still has 350..." Kyoko commented."At least your car is balanced. My car kept fishtailing whenever I exit a corner in high rev..." Himiko replied.Keisuke's phone rang and left the two for a while."Hello?""Keisuke! It's me, Kenta.""What is it now, Nakamura?""We got trouble. I saw these guys coming to Akagi and just in case you're there, I guess, you need to know of this.""What's the car?""I don't know. Looks like a JZX...""A JZX? A chaser or a Mark II?""Neither. It looked weird to me. If I am right, Fumihiro told me something about the Verossa.""A Verossa, eh? What does it look like?""I'm not so sure on the car but it does have a carbon hood and a couple of vinyls spelling Bloodhound...""Blood hound? I'll keep my eyes open. Thanks for the info." With that, Keisuke hangs up. She approaches the two girls, who are quarrelling over their FD's, to say the news.Keisuke tells them about a car, covered in vinyls, coming up to Mt. Akagi."Must be a local." Himiko stated."There's no way it could be a local's car. Only an idiot would drive a car like that with no reason." Keisuke uttered."Then, where did it come from?" kyoko asked."I have no idea. It's been a while since I've been here. A lot of things changed, I can tell you that. Things aren't the same as it used to be. We better get ready. A car with a sticker stating Blood hound? This has trouble written all over it!"Moments later, the car that Kenta saw came. It's a JZX110 Toyota Verossa. It had a carbon hood and the stickers as what Kenta mentioned. It had a convoy of cars that seem to come from the Wangan. The plate stated DEVILS... The Verossa came up to the parking area and stopped right next to Keisuke's FD. "Looks like this course could be a good spot to start with." One of them said."Tell me Shirou, is this the place the Emperor is talking about?" the other asked."No doubt about it. This is the course he wanted." The man named Shirou said.From afar, Keisuke can somewhat hear the conversation and it ticked him off."Um... Darli- eh, Keisuke. I think I have an idea who they are...""You sure, Kyoko? You're not joking around are you?""When did I ever lie to you? Anyway, those guys over there? They're part of a team from Tokyo...""The Wangan?""That's right. They're a legendary team called the Thirteen Devils.""Thirteen devils, you say...""I've been checking out the internet... the BBS page for us touge drivers. There is a rumor saying that the Thirteen Devils are out here to conquer the mountain roads.""Well, I can't let that happen. This might be a public course but they have no right to claim it for themselves." Keisuke stepped out of the group and approached this Shirou guy."Will he be alright?" Himiko asked."Probably. But he'll do fine..." Kyoko confidently answered.While they're talking, Keisuke patted Shirou's shoulder."Excuse me..." he said."What do you want?" Shirou angrily asked."whoa. Keep your cool man. I overheard you guys saying that you're planning to conquer this place, am I right?""So what is it to you?""I can't let you do that."The rest of the group laughed at Keisuke."What are you then? A hero or something?""Have you heard of the Akagi Red Suns? Or even Project D?""Never heard of em.""Well, now you know. Coz, I'm calling you out.""Hey, who the hell do you think you are?" One of the guys said."Do you even know who you're talking to here?" The other one followed."Easy, fellas. Let me take care of this..." Shirou asked the two to move away and let him settle this dispute."You, tell me your name.""Keisuke Takahashi.""Takahashi eh..." He said with a grin. "Well, I'm Shirou Sasaki. But you can call me Bloodhound. I'm from the 13 Devils. A legendary team from Tokyo's Shutokou highways. You proposed a challenge... well... it's your lucky day. I accept.""Good." Keisuke said in return with a smile."We'll do a runner chaser style of race. First to cross the base wins.""Fine with me."Shirou Sasaki boards his car. Before he closes the door, he says something to Keisuke."Just make sure you don't crash. If you do, it's not my problem." He said with a laugh. Keisuke's face turned serious and he went to his car to prepare for the battle.Kyoko and Himiko ran to his FD and had a little talk before the race."Darling, are you sure with this? They're highly skilled.""Remember, Kyoko. The Expeditions? You saw me right? I can do this. Remember too that this is my home course.""But...""Don't worry Kyoko. He can do this. Remember, this is Keisuke you're talking to.""Yeah... you're right." Kyoko said to Himiko. "What am I doing, doubting my darling? Go get 'em darling. We'll see you at the base in a little while."Keisuke gives a nod and turns on his car. He shifts to gear 1 and slowly exits the parking lot. Blood hound is waiting for him at the start. Keisuke positions his car behind the Verossa. He holds on to his brakes, shifts to gear 1, and raises his e-brake.

QUOTE

"They're a legendary team called the Thirteen Devils.""Thirteen devils, you say...""I've been checking out the internet... the BBS page for us touge drivers. There is a rumor saying that the Thirteen Devils are out here to conquer the mountain roads."

One of the guys, who're with Shirou got out in front to start the countdown...As Keisuke slowly revs his FD to 6000 rpm, he thought to himself... "These guys from Tokyo... how would they do here?"Flames came out of the FD and the Verossa's exhaust simultaneously. The race is about to start.

Himiko is forced to feather the accelerator - in order not to hit Kyoko's behind. She has no room to overtake. She needed to wait until the straightway where the lanes become 3 from 2.

No. I meant the way you described it made me go "eh?". "Himiko is too angst" doesn't make any sense, and the closest possible meaning is "Himiko is too sad", which makes me think "Wait. She can't feather it at the same pace as Kyoko because she's too sad? She doesn't seem sad to me?"

Nice poster BTW.

As I previously said: It's great to see the improvement in your writing. I'll now wait for the next chapter.

--------------------------------------------------And on to the next chapter:

Chapter 3 - No Need To Go All Out

The 13 Devils are known to be a legendary Shutoku racing team from Tokyo. Recently, their leader known under the nickname: EMPEROR SPEED, decided to leave the Shutoku area and expand their territory. They plan to claim the mountain passes for themselves and started their conquest at Mt. Akagi.

Shirou Sasaki, known as Bloodhound, was assigned to claim Mt. Akagi. He is a member of the Devils for his devotion to drive better. Once he starts something in connection with this, he won't stop until he finishes it. He drives a Toyota Verossa, an unexpected choice for a wangan driver. The Toyota Verossa is more or less, a successor to the Toyota Chaser and Toyota Mark II. Power? Higher than the 2 predecessors. Weight though is said to be a drawback to this car but isn't a hindrance to Shirou's driving style.

Shirou faces Keisuke Takahashi, a former member of Project D who is now a professional. A devoted driver of an early Mazda FD3S RX-7 type R. He's known around the prefecture for his amazing acceleration skills and is a formidable driver to contend with. His FD is like no other: a street version of the RE Amemiya FD seen in the GT300 series. Keisuke did a few personal modifications on it - he replaced the projector headlamps with the standard flip up ones and lightened the spoiler by replacing it with a carbon one of the same kind. No one has ever defeated him in his home turf just yet but being out on the circuit more than being out on Akagi might make the locals think that he might just lose this race. Well, will he? The battle is about to begin!!

The cars took off at a blazing pace with Shirou's Verossa leading. Although he has the lead, he plans on taking on Keisuke from behind. "Let's just see how great Takahashi Keisuke is..." he murmured. He decelerates and lets the FD overtake the Verossa. "Too cocky, I think? Is he copying Nakazato's tactic against Fujiwara years back?" Keisuke asked himself. "But no matter. I'll make sure of it that I finish this quickly!!" Keisuke presses on the gas further and his FD rockets out of the gap. The first left is up and Shirou slows down to manage the apex. To his amaze, there was something breath taking happening in front of him. Keisuke isn't braking at all as he approaches the corner. The FD's tail tripped and has sent the car to a drift. "Too easy." Keisuke said with a chuckle. He countersteers and is preparing his car for the sudden right corner followed by the first left hairpin down Akagi. Shirou's Verossa looks as if it's standing still as Keisuke makes something that Shirou doesn't plan on using on the mountain passes: an inertial drift. With just a tap of the gas, the boost at past 1.5, and the needle located at the higher rpms of the FD's tachometer, Keisuke manages to transfer the weight of the car to the other side and manages to clear the first s-curve at 87 mph.

"How will you manage to clear the first hairpin at that speed? You'll crash for sure. " Shirou said as he grins his teeth. Sorry for Shirou but Keisuke proves him wrong. He raises the e-brake at the moment he decelerates and countersteers and makes the FD face the hairpin's inside. A double inertial drift. The rate of Keisuke's countersteer is not that high. It was close to his brother's zero countersteer drift as he clears the first hairpin. Keisuke downshifts to gear 2 and kicks in the turbo. Flames burst out of the FD and a loud 'thump' sound came out of it. The boost kicks in also and Keisuke's FD manages to pull away further.

What about Shirou? As Keisuke makes his way to the next hairpin, Shirou JUST came out of the first hairpin. Keisuke's close to the next hairpin until Shirou signals his lights saying that he has lost. "What? That's it? You Thirteen devils really disappoint me." Keisuke full brakes before his front end kisses the outer wall of the next hairpin. Shirou activates his hazard lights and nimbly makes his way down Akagi. Before Shirou could pass the FD, Keisuke kicks in to gear 1 and blasts out of where he stopped and finishes Akagi triple that of Shirou's pace.

At the top, the 2 other low tier members of the Devils got word that Bloodhound lost. "Shirou lost? No way..." one of them said. Overhearing that from afar, Kyoko leaped for joy and looks as if she was strangling Himiko out of excitement. "Yay! I can't believe it!! Darling actually won." Kyoko said."Looks like all your stories of him are true and... WOULD YOU GET OFF ME!?" Himiko pushes Kyoko out of her neck and gasps for air for a moment. The 2 members of the Devils make their way down Akagi as well. "Ha! That will teach you guys to mess with my Darling!!" Kyoko said in an obnoxious manner. From one side of the parking area, someone is clapping his hands really loud, as if he wants people to notice him. "Wow. That guy has guts. He beats Bloodhound just right after the first hairpin. What a fluke", the guy said in a grin."Hey! Are you making fun of my Darling?""D-Darling? Ha ha! That's so sweet.""Now, you're making fun of me? Who the heck are you Mister?""Me?""Yeah! Who do you think you are making fun of my Darling? Why, if he is here right now, he'd beat your butt twice as fast as that of that other guy!""You better watch your mouth girl. Do you even know who I am?""Yeah! You're... uh... well... I don't.""Fine. You can call me by the name THE SWORD OF THE KINGDOM!""Sword of the Kingdom?" Kyoko starts to laugh out loud. "C'mon Himiko! Join me! His name is funny!! How in the heck would I recall a long oldish name such as that!!""Hey! Stop making fun of me!! For your information, I'm quite known here by many before your precious 'darling' came back here. I was suppose to face Bloodhound but your friend in the Yellow FD got before me. So I let him face Bloodhound to see what he can do."Himiko looks at the man who keeps boasting about his identity as the sword of the Kingdom. She notices an aura coming out of his body. "This guy is nothing like Bloodhound..." she uttered."Tell me, missies. Do you know of the Team Kingdom Twelve?""Nope." Both of them replied.The guy fell on his back upon hearing that."Seriously?" He asked as he got up."100 percent sure. Never heard of it.""Let me give you a lesson; a lesson about our team.""Forget it. I'm too lazy to listen."The guy got pissed much and shouted at the top of his lungs: "OKAY! THAT'S IT! YOU ME! LF BATTLE RIGHT NOW!!'"I ACCEPT!" Kyoko shouted the same way. "BUT SHE WILL RACE YOU!!" She shouted as she points her finger at Himiko. "What!? Mee? But why?""You can do this Himiko-chan. You beat me. So that means you're on an equal league as that of Darling.""Am I? (Well, the reason I beat you is because you didn't give it your all. How should I know that I'm as fast as Keisuke-san?)""But first, let me introduce myself formally. My name is Honzou Tsuruoka. I'm known here as the Sword of the Kingdom! A member of Kingdom Twelve!!""Fine." Himiko said with a sigh. "I'm Himiko Amatsuka, member of Turbo Division of Usuitogue and blah blah blah.""QUIT MOCKING ME!!" Honzou shouted."You don't have to be so loud!!"

Back at the base. Keisuke parks his FD at the PA below. He sees Bloodhound's Verossa pass him 10 minutes later. As he looks at bloodhound, Shirou gives him a stink eye of some sort. And leaves Akagi for good. "What is taking Kyoko and that other girl so long up there?"

Atop, the race is about to begin. Himiko gets on her blue FD. Kyoko notices the car Honzou is about to board and she suddenly got chills down her spine as she sees the car. It makes a vicious engine roar as Honzou turns the car on. "What did I get Himiko into?..." a pair of high beam headlights, from Honzou's car, flashed Kyoko, who was directly looking at his car.

Another great chapter with nice clear descriptions. Oh, and Nakazato didn't use that tactic against Fujiwara. That was Ryousuke you're thinking of, who stayed right behind the 86 to pressure him. All Nakazato did was not flooring it on the earlier straights out of pity for the underpowered 86 (not a good decision).

And. . HOLY SHI-! 87 mph?! Keisuke cleared those corners at over 130 km/h?! He must've had quite some tuning done, to keep grip at that speed and also keep from rolling over. Some very expensive tuning. . Involving roll bars, a roll cage, carbon fibre body parts (and carbon fibre parts can be painted over to make them look like regular ones. .) and slick tires that'll need frequent changing. He also must've improved immensely, to be able to control drifts at that speed and keep his cool.Also the exchange between the two girls and Honzou was made of funny

Himiko, for a start, is a Rotary lover. When it comes to cars, she'd care only about 3 models: Tomo's R34, Kyoichi's (her teammate) Lan Evo 5 GSR, and her FD. In terms of skill, she's more of a 2nd tier type but she has the capability of adapting to hard situations. She visits Akagi to explore the other mountain areas. Currently, she's friends with Kyoko Iwase.

Kyoko is a sensationalist when it comes to her driving skills. She drives perfectly as long as her emotions are on the right place. She recently fell in love with Project D's hill climb ace Takahashi Keisuke after a short encounter one day. A full devotee to Keisuke even after months of not seeing each other. She recently got back with him and became friends with Himiko Amatsuka

Keisuke Takahashi was known around Gunma as 1/2 of the Rotary Takahashi Brothers of the Red Suns years back. Afterwards, he and a touge contender of his, Takumi Fujiwara, became part of Project D - a team organized by Ryosuke Takahashi to leave a legendary mark in the Northern Kantou area by means of battling the best in the prefecture and setting new records. Now, he went further into his career and became a professional racer. Having been homesick for a while now, he went to Mt. Akagi to reminisce on the moments he had as part of the Red Suns and Project D. Unexpectedly he meets up with Kyoko Iwase and Himiko Amatsuka. With the invasion of the Legendary Tokyo Shutoku team, the THIRTEEN DEVILS, out to conquer the mountain passes, Keisuke's stay in the touge would be longer than he thought. He's well prepared to defend Gunma and the rest of the Northern Kantou from the invaders. With help from Kyoko and Himiko, the newly known Rotary Trio are sworn to defend the area against any invading teams.

Sorry for the wait. I got so tangled up between 3 things: addiction over a virtual orange haired girl girl from XBOX's DOA, College stuff, and the other fanfic. Now, back to the story:

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Chapter 4 - Sudden Impact

The race between Himiko and Honzou is about to start. For some reason, even though it's Akagi, their starting position is kind of awkward - A lead First battle, aka LF battle. Himiko is in front while Honzou takes the back. The rules were simple:

If Himiko maintains her position as runner for the whole race, she wins

If himiko increases the gap to 218 yards, she wins

If Honzou Overtakes and retains the lead, he wins

If Honzou overtakes and makes a gap of 110 yards, he wins

Kyoko, who was standing on the sidelines, stood in fear as she feels that Himiko would definitely lose this race. The FD is a supremely balanced car for Uphill and Downhill but in terms of power output, it fares badly with its other competitors such as the GTR, Lan Evo and Impreza as to name a few. However, it overcomes that with much superior cornering capabilities. Kyoko knows the strengths and weaknesses of the FD but from sources such as her team mate Nobuhiko back in Saitama, she knows when and where an FD could POSSIBLY lose to far better cars.

The car that Himiko is about to face is a JZA80 MK IV Toyota Supra. Now, why would Kyoko fear such a car as that? It does poorly on the downhill as it is as heavy as a GT-R. Not to mention the immense understeer it possesses. That's where Honzou comes in. He has the capability to maneuver his Supra as if it's a lightweight Downhill killer. No wonder he's part of the Self Acclaimed defenders of the Highways - Kingdom Twelve. Unlike Shirou, Honzou came alone. He was tasked to defeat Bloodhound where Keisuke got ahead of him. Instead of compromising and arguing on the match, he stood and watch.

4! 3! 2! 1! Go! Both cars took off! Himiko immediately gets her hands ready on the gear shift and waits for the needle to hit the 8500 rpm redline. Honzou, in some way, managed to stick behind the FD at the same pace - proving that it possesses more power than the blue FD. Honzou's JZA is purple coated with a lime yellow flame vinyl on the sides. On the flame, it shows a black drawing of a sword and written next to it is SWORD OF THE KINGDOM. The lights have eyelids, and it carries a TRD3000GT widebody kit. Not to mention the GT Wing right on its back. If Himiko's FD carries 430hp, then Honzou must have the same power output as Kozo Hoshino's BNR34. Five Hundred horsepower.

The first hairpin is up and Himiko plans on taking it with an out-in-out attack. She shifts down 2 gears and lets the turbo spool and kick in. The rear tripped and sends the car to a drift. More like a powerslide if you ask me. She countersteers right past the apex and clears it but...

In the middle of the corner, Honzou manages to maintain the gap - a bumper to bumper distance. While Himiko's FD is drifting through it, Honzou's JZA was close to hitting the FD's side. "A typical commoner of the passes, huh? Or was that just a preview of what she can do?" Honzou wondered. They approach the second turn - a mid angled right corner with the wide inside barricaded for a much challenging race. Himiko gritted her teeth as she takes the corner on via grip maneuver. Honzou, on the other hand was right behind her tail. "Kyoko shouldn't have accepted that challenge. How the heck am I going to maintain this lead if this Supra just keeps coming at me like this?" Himiko was slowly coming into panic mode. Sooner or later, if she doesn't change her mindset on the battle, she's bound to lose the lead for sure.The hardest part of the first section is up - the multiple S curve section. Honzou isn't stupid enough to plan on taking the corners via drift head on. Even with his skills, it doesn't deny the fact that the weight is still too much for the downhill. So he plans on gripping through them with ease and watches the FD closely for any flaws in its attack points.

Himiko was unsure of taking the corner by drift or grip but subconsciously, she was drifting through them, hoping to hit all the apexes. She cleared some but as soon as she got passed the first checkpoint, that's where it happened. Her car understeered. She was hoping to let the Turbo save her but the revs were way to low. Her muffler is a high rev unit, thus delaying spooling time also. She had no choice but to slow down to safely clear the corner from the outside. Honzou saw the chance and takes it as soon as possible.

They are now side by side on the short straightway where lanes become 3 from 2. It was a tight match. Once the corner's up, what on earth would they do with it? "The corner! If she doesn't slow down now, she'll hit the barricade for sure! Which of us would brake first? You? or Me?" Honzou is starting to tremble. He is someone who races cleanly. All the members of Kingdom Twelve race that way - aggressive but clean. If the locals found out one of the Kingdom Twelve members played dirty by hitting their opponent, their rep is on the line and they won't get the hearts of the locals against the Thirteen Devils.

A few meters away from the corner and still not one of them is planning to brake. A while later, Himiko makes her move. "There!" She turns the car earlier while on the tie. It looks as if she's going to hit Honzou. "You- You crazy? are you gonna hit me? Not a chance!!" Honzou finally braked first as Himiko got her eyes fixated at the apex and nails it. The next right corner is up and Himiko braked hard. Her turbo kicked in halfway through and the FD does a sort of fishtail at the start of the straightway. "So, she wasn't planning to hit me, coz she was focused on the apex?" Honzou wondered. He then gave a small grin. "Finally, a challenge for the Kingdom!" He pressed the accelerator deeper and is ready to attack. Himiko was able to pull away by a hundred yards or so; but it wasn't enough. Honzou is coming in fast. The JZA closes in on the FD. Flames bursted out of the JZA's single, huge muffler. The high revs were also kicking in on the Supra. This didn't show a while back but Himiko was surprised as she heard all these things from her opponent. "Tsk." She uttered. This is bad. Bad for Himiko.

At the base...

Keisuke takes out his laptop and goes online to see if any from the local BBS anything about them Thirteen Devils. Coincidentially, Nakazato and Iketani are online. Keisuke brings them into a conference and the 3 of them had a chat.

Keisuke: Guys, I got a question.

Nakazato: Oh, it's you Keisuke Takahashi. I never expected to hear from you after a long time.

Iketani: What is it, Keisuke? Your post sounds serious.

Keisuke: Have you ever heard of the Thirteen Devils?

Nakazato: Thirteen... what?

Iketani: I think I heard of a couple of em here in Haruna.

Keisuke: The thing is...

Nakazato: They showed up?

Keisuke: how did you know?

Nakazato: Some of my friends here are talking about em' in Myogi.

Iketani: Well, did they show up?

Nakazato: No.

Keisuke: It figures, who would ever face a bonehead like you, anyway?

Nakazato: Now, you take that back Takahashi!!

Keisuke: On to serious things. If they didn't show up, how'd you know about the Devils in Myogi?

Nakazato: there's this guy in a completely old RX7...

Keisuke: Aniki?

Nakazato: No. It ain't your brother. An RX-7 older than that. It's an SA22 if I recall. He says he's one of the members of Kingdom Twelve.

Iketani: Kingdom twelve? The self acclaimed defenders of Gunma?

Keisuke: Are they a good team or as sinister as the Devils?

Nakazato: Dunno.

Iketani: Is Takumi there, Keisuke?

Keisuke: No. I called you in just to ask you the same question if he faced one of 'em.

Iketani: Well, I live near Haruna and I could hear Takumi's 86. The tone is quite unusual; as if he's racing someone.

Keisuke starts his car but..."Kyoko and the other girl are still atop Akagi. I can't leave them behind. Best I leave a letter then. Hope they understand."Keisuke writes something on a piece of paper. He gets a roll of tape from his glove compartment, heads out of his FD to stick something on the house there. He goes back to his FD and drives off.

Kyoko was getting impatient atop Akagi. She can't take the pressure any longer. "That's it! I'm going down too!" She boards her own FD and drives down too.

As for Himiko, they are now past the second checkpoint and Honzou's still at her back. "Can I possibly win this?" She's starting to doubt what she can do and it's slowly affecting her driving. Honzou's Supra is now closing in. He's ready to overtake.